Article 10: Employee Rights

10.1

The College reserves the right to investigate allegations of employee misconduct and poor performance.

10.2

An employee may be placed on administrative leave during an investigation involving the employee. Administrative leave shall be leave with pay. The College considers it unethical, and it is a violation of this contract for faculty involved in disciplinary actions to involve his or her students in these disputes, unless those students are integral in the dispute.

10.3

During an employee investigation, no documentation related to the matter will be placed in the employee's official personnel file. The employee will be provided the opportunity to respond to charges and a brief summary of the evidence supporting the charges prior to the imposition of disciplinary action.

10.4

An employee shall be reprimanded or suspended without pay only for just cause.  A grievance filed by an employee who has not completed seven (7) terms of employment with the College as a full-time faculty member, which alleges a violation of this provision, may be processed through Level 3 of the grievance procedure herein, but shall not be subject to the arbitration procedure contained in Article 7.7 herein.  The College’s action at Level 3 shall be final and binding on all parties.

10.5

During an employee’s initial seven (7) terms of employment with the College as a full-time faculty member, the employee may be terminated at the will of the College.  The College’s action shall be final and binding on all parties and shall not be subject to the grievance procedure.

10.6

Following completion of seven (7) terms of employment with the College as a full-time faculty member, an employee may be reprimanded, placed on probation, suspended without pay, or terminated only for just cause.  The College’s action shall be subject to the Agreement’s grievance procedure.  The grievance procedure shall be the exclusive remedy of an employee and the Union to challenge the College’s action.  The College shall provide the employee with written notice of termination as soon as possible but no later than ten (10) days prior to the effective date of termination. The notice shall include the reason(s) for the termination.

10.7

For the purposes of this Article, the following definitions shall apply:

10.7.1

"Termination" shall mean any adverse employment action by the College which results in an involuntary severance of an employee's employment status with the College.

10.8

An employee may be accompanied by a Union representative at a grievance procedure meeting as provided under this Agreement’s grievance procedure, a meeting at which discipline is considered or the employee will receive formal charges against the employee, a meeting which results in the issuance of a written reprimand against the employee, or a meeting initiated by the employee and the supervisor agrees with the employee’s request for representation.  An employee, supervisor, Union representative, or Human Resource representative may tape record any grievance meeting but must first reveal that the meeting is being recorded.

10.9

Time spent on full leave without pay or a full summer workload reduction (including reductions based upon offsets worked) shall not count as time worked for the purposes of complying with the seven (7) term requirement contained in this Article.

10.10 Copyrights

10.10.1

The College regards copyrightable material such as but not limited to a book, manual, musical or dramatic composition, architectural design, painting, sculpture or other comparable work developed by an employee as the property of the employee (author) unless: The material is prepared under a grant or contract with specified ownership; or the material is prepared as a specific part of the employee's College assignment. An employee's general desire to produce occupational or scholarly works is not such a specific College assignment.

10.10.2

The copyright in materials created by an employee within the scope of employment is owned by the College under the “work made for hire” doctrine unless otherwise noted in this Agreement. The College exempts the following materials from the scope of “work made for hire” doctrine, subject to the guidelines expressed herein.

• Course syllabi
• Lecture Notes
• Digital presentations
• Class Assignments
• Exams
• Supplemental materials

The College retains the right to use the exempted materials for its own non-commercial educational purposes.

10.10.2.1

Exempted materials may be utilized:

• For the instructor’s own scholarly purpose;
• To teach courses at public institutions of higher learning;
• For teaching at other educational institutions after separating employment with CNM;

10.10.2.2

Exempted materials may not be utilized:

• To teach courses at for-profit colleges or universities and
• To teach courses for commercial purposes. 

10.10.3

In any case where an employee in the development of a copyrightable work intended for commercial dissemination has made extensive use of College resources, such as computer time, staff personnel, supplies, equipment or facilities, but not including the use of library facilities or office space, his/her supervisor or department dean may require the employee to reimburse the College for any portion of such use. When a commercial enterprise is undertaken, the employee should consult his/her supervisor or department dean in advance to determine whether and to what extent reimbursement is appropriate. Reimbursement may be made by assignment of a portion of the royalties produced by the commercial venture, lump sum payment or any other mutually agreeable arrangement.

10.10.4

Any dispute as to the issue or extensive use of copyrighted material, or as to the amount or method of reimbursement for use of College resources in preparing copyrighted material, may be appealed from the supervisor to the department dean or from the department dean to the vice president for instruction.

10.10.5

The vice president for Academic Affairs is responsible for the interpretation and implementation of the copyright policy for the College. Decisions of the vice president may be appealed to the president.

10.10.6

During the term of this Agreement the Union may submit information for review by the Faculty Management Committee copyright policies involving lecture materials, online teaching resources, and similar intellectual property of CNM's peer institutions.

10.11

PATENTS-- The College encourages efforts by employees that might result in the the creation of intellectual property which may be protectable by patent. The College recognizes that such efforts can be of value both to the College and the employee. Because such efforts often involve a combination of employee/College resources, it is appropriate for the College and the affected employee to have a policy that is mutually beneficial.

10.11.1

The College shall not claim rights to any invention resulting from efforts that are in no way supported by the College, or to which the College's contribution was negligible.

10.11.2

The College shall have the right, title and interest to an invention, including the sole right to file patent applications thereon and the right to waive all or part of such right, where: the invention was conceived or first actually reduced to practice in the performance of work under an agreement with the College, or under an agreement of the College with any third party;

the invention was directly related to the employee's duties at the College; or

the invention was made with more than a negligible contribution of College funds, facilities, personnel, equipment or technical information.

10.11.3

Each invention shall be submitted to the vice president for Finance and Operations for a determination as to ownership rights, according to the following procedure: The inventor shall report the invention in writing as soon as possible after work on the project commences and preferably within two months after conception or first actual reduction to practice, whichever occurs first. The report shall include a description of the invention, a statement describing the facts and circumstances of the invention process, and a written statement of concurrence from the appropriate dean or director.

The vice president for administration shall make an official determination as to ownership rights within 60 days of receipt of the information in (10.11.3) above.

In the event the employee disagrees with the determination of the vice president for administration, the employee may within 20 working days of the date of the vice president's determination, appeal the determination to the president. The president may in his discretion appoint an ad hoc panel, which will review all relevant acts and circumstances and make recommendations to the president for final determination. The president will issue a determination of the employee's appeal within 60 days of receipt of the appeal.

10.11.4

It is within the sole discretion of the College to file an application for patent on any invention in which it has ownership interest. Likewise, it is within the sole discretion of the College to waive all or part of its right to any invention, including the filing of an application for patent. The terms and conditions of any waiver by the College, of any of its rights to an invention shall be a matter of negotiation between the College and the employee, and shall be determined on a case-by-case basis.

10.11.5

If the College determines to file a patent application in the United States or in foreign countries, the inventor shall at all times cooperate as requested by the College to assist in the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent application and the issuance and maintenance of any patents issuing. Costs relating to the patent application shall be borne by the College. Net revenues received by the College – including option fees, license fees, royalties and commissions of any description – resulting from the exploitation of the invention, shall be shared 50% with the employee after deduction of all out-of-pocket costs incurred by the College, in the course of obtaining issuance and maintenance of the patent.

10.11.6

To the extent possible the employee and the College shall identify the employee's and the College's property rights prior to the implementation of a program.

10.12

An instructor shall be entitled to temporarily remove a student from his/her class when the instructor's safety, the safety of the student or the safety of other students is threatened or when the student disrupts a class. The instructor of record shall be provided the opportunity to be consulted and involved in the final disposition of the student's continued enrollment in the class.

10.13

The parties agree that all employees in the designated bargaining unit are entitled to all of the rights and privileges delineated in this Agreement.  There shall be no rights implied beyond the specific terms of this Agreement and the  Union shall be exclusive representative for the representation of those rights.

10.14

The College and the Union recognize that the primary function of instructors currently designated as Department Chair is to support the teaching mission of the institution; thus, nothing in this Agreement shall limit the number of course releases they may receive in a semester or over the course of the year so that they may effectively perform their duties.

10.15

In order to ensure the continuity of instruction, full-time faculty who resign for non-disciplinary reasons are encouraged to complete their teaching assignments by making the effective date of resignation the end of the term.