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 19.2.2:  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.

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                 Interpersonal Safety of Faculty Members with Respect to Students

18.3.1              Faculty members may remove a student from class for violations of the rules of student conduct delineated in Board Policy and Administrative Regulations related to students. Faculty members must report incidents in writing immediately to the College Disciplinarian, using the Faculty Report of Student Conduct Violation Form.  The College Disciplinarian will respond within one business day in writing to the faculty member in any case in which the instructor feels that his or her physical safety, or the physical safety of other students in the class is threatened by the individual who has been removed from class.  A faculty member may request that the College Disciplinarian impose an interim suspension under Board Policy and Administrative Regulations.  It will be the responsibility of the College Disciplinarian to determine the appropriate action.

18.3.2              Faculty members should file a police report when a student is removed from class for having become violent or threatened violence.

18.4                 Interpersonal Safety of Faculty Members with Respect to Other College Employees

18.4.1                     Should a conflict arise between employees of the District, which is detrimental to the performance of the employee's respective duties to the District, the District will provide impartial dispute resolution service to provide mediation between the parties, if both parties request it.  Participation in and outcomes of such resolutions shall not be subject to grievance procedures under this Agreement.

18.5                          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.

18.6                 Parking

18.6.1              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 campus shall not be reduced 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.

18.6.2              A District campus-wide committee will be formed to develop short and long range solutions to parking problems that may arise from construction projects and community issues

18.6.3              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.

18.6.4              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.

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

18.6.6              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.

18.7                 Personnel Files: A faculty member shall have the right to examine all materials (except materials obtained prior to the employment of the employee, that were prepared by identifiable examination committee members, or that were obtained in connection with a promotional exam) contained in their personnel file.  Each personnel file shall contain a log of persons who have examined the personnel file, except routine clerical transactions.

A faculty member shall be provided a copy of any derogatory written material, except materials obtained prior to the employment of the employee, that were prepared by identifiable examination committee members, or that were obtained in connection with a promotional exam, prior to the time such material is placed within the employeeâs personnel file.  An employee shall have the right to enter, and have attached to any such derogatory statement, his/her own comments.

Access to faculty member personnel files shall be limited to authorized administrators, authorized staff of the office of human resources and to the faculty memberâs immediate supervisor   Any information contained in a faculty memberâs 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.