18.1     Safe Working Conditions

18.1.1              The District and the Association shall cooperate in the objective of eliminating accidents and health hazards in compliance with the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, and any other relevant legislation.  The District and Association recognize their obligations and/or rights under existing federal and state laws with respect to safety and health matters.  The District shall prepare a handout outlining the general rights and obligations of employees and distribute this handout to all unit members.  Issues involving safety at the College shall be referred to the District Safety and Health Committee (18.2).  Issues involving interpersonal safety of faculty members on campus with respect to persons outside the college community shall be referred to campus police.  Issues involving interpersonal safety of faculty members with respect to students on campus shall be resolved according to the procedures outlined in 18.3. Campus issues involving interpersonal safety of faculty members with respect to other faculty members, staff, or administration shall be resolved according to the procedures outlined in 18.4.  Emergencies involving interpersonal safety shall be referred to Campus Police, with follow-up as outlined in this article.

18.1.2              All District activities shall be conducted in accordance with established health, safety, fire, and applicable CAL/OSHA regulations.

18.1.3              If the District Superintendent/President or his/her designee orders the campus evacuated, or any part evacuated in response to an emergency, faculty members shall not suffer a loss of pay or deductions from the accumulated sick leave bank during the period of such evacuation, but shall remain available for immediate return to work after clearance to return to work.

18.2     Safety and Health Committee

18.2.1              The District shall maintain a Safety and Health Committee.  The Faculty Association shall appoint two representatives to this committee.

18.2.2              The Safety and Health Committee shall hold regular meetings.  Minutes of all meetings and reports issued from this committee shall be distributed to committee representatives and the Faculty Association President.  In addition, a notebook of all such minutes and reports shall be maintained by the chair of this committee, and shall be available for inspection to all who request to see them.

18.2.3              The Safety and Health Committee shall distribute the form for reporting concerns to the committee upon request, and shall post in the mailroom and distribute the following to the persons delineated in 18.2.2:  a list of committee member names; the committee chair name and extension; and tentative meeting dates. Each department will be sent a reasonable number of official forms, and more upon request.  Additional copies of the forms may be obtained by contacting the Office of Human Resources.

18.2.4              The parties agree that the committee is advisory in nature and may make recommendation to the appropriate District administrator regarding any unsafe practices which are identified by the safety committee.

18.3     Prior to the beginning of a semester, the District and the Association shall meet to discuss and resolve concerns related to access to facilities, equipment, supplies and other issues that may impact the faculty. Memoranda of understanding and other documents relating to these and other working conditions issues affecting faculty will be placed in Appendix K.

18.4     Parking

18.4.1              The District shall not increase the parking fee charged to faculty without the written agreement of the Association. The number of unrestricted staff parking spaces on the main campus shall not be reduced below 536 spaces unless the District gives prior notice to the Faculty Association.    If the Association objects to the reduction plan, no reduction shall take place unless required by law or for the safety of the staff or students.  Upon completion of the new parking structure, either the District or the Association may request that this section be reopened to discuss the allocation of staff parking spaces. 

18.4.2              Part-time faculty members may elect to pay for parking permits via payroll deduction over four (4) pay periods, without paying interest or an increased fee.  Full time faculty may elect to pay for parking permits via payroll deduction over ten (10) pay periods without paying interest or an increased fee.

18.4.3              Part-time faculty members who purchase an annual permit and who request but who do not receive a spring assignment shall be refunded 50% of the annual fee paid, by submitting a written request for such a reimbursement to the Vice President, Human Resources, and surrendering the permit and access card.

18.4.4              Parking permits are for use by the faculty person to whom the permit is issued only.

18.4.5              The District will strive in negotiating with long-term vendors to limit parking permit issuance to the absolute minimum, and will charge appropriate fees for permits of any time period.

18.5     Personnel Files:  A faculty member shall have the right to examine all materials contained in their personnel file.  Each personnel file shall contain a log of persons who have examined the personnel file, except routine clerical transactions.  Information of a derogatory nature shall not be entered into an employee’s personnel record (file) unless and until the employee is given notice and an opportunity to review and comment on that information.  The employee shall have the right to enter, and have attached to any derogatory statement, his or her own comments.

            Nothing in this section shall entitle an employee to review ratings, reports, or records that (A) were obtained prior to the employment of the person involved, (B) were prepared by identifiable examination committee members, or (C) were obtained in connection with a promotional examination.

            This section is intended to be declaratory of the existing provisions under Education Code Section 87061 as it now exists, or as it may be amended by the Legislature.

            Access to faculty member personnel files shall be limited to authorized administrators, authorized staff of the Office of Human Resources and to the faculty member’s immediate supervisor.   Any information contained in a faculty member’s personnel file which does not constitute a public document under the public records act, shall not be released to anyone, other than those authorized above, without first notifying the faculty member, except when such information is requested pursuant to a subpoena.

            The District shall not base any punitive action against a faculty member upon materials which are not contained in the faculty member’s personnel file, and which were not placed in the employee’s file on a contemporaneous basis.  For purposes of this section “materials” means any written document prepared by any District administrator and any written document prepared by any employee or student and such document is the District’s possession.