Last week, arbitrator Robert Diebolt awarded
a ruling for policy AD 10.12, Tuition Waiver, closing off a yearlong advocacy
case.

The ruling stated that former continuing
members would need to have had a minimum of five years of service at SFU to be
eligible for the tuition waiver benefit when they retire. 

The case began when the University
Administration denied a recently retired member access to the tuition waiver
benefit. The University argued that the member needed ten
years of service at SFU to qualify for the benefit. This was news to APSA, as policy
AD
10.12 Tuition Waiver has no language of a requirement, nor
had APSA ever been informed of the requirement. APSA won the case and the
retired member was entitled to full tuition waiver benefits (according to AD
10.12, section 3.02).

But, APSA, the University
Administration and the arbitrator agreed that the policy needed to include a minimum
years of service at SFU before members could be eligible for tuition waiver
when they retire.

APSA was hoping to receive, or increase
a benefit in exchange for agreeing to a qualifying time period but an agreement
could not be reached. The parties returned to Mr. Diebolt for an attempt at mediation,
but after several hours, he declared an impasse and donned his arbitrator’s hat
once again.

Diebolt ruled that continuing employees
need to have worked at SFU for a minimum of five years to be eligible for the
tuition waiver benefit when they retire. The decision was based on the impact
tuition waiver has on the University.   

Diebolt referred to the ten-year
qualifying period for health and welfare benefits for retirees and determined this
was an inappropriate time period for the purpose of tuition waiver benefits because
the financial impact of a tuition waiver on the University is of a much lower
order of magnitude than health and welfare benefits.

However, Diebolt recognized that the
cost of the tuition waiver benefit could be substantial if the retiree is
married and has children less than 25 year of age, because the waiver extends
to them as well as to their spouses.

Although not an outright ‘win’, APSA
agrees the imposed 5-year period more realistically reflects the potential
monetary value of the benefit and is pleased with the outcome.

 

See related case: APSA Wins Tuition Waiver Case