COVID-Related Caregiver Modified Duties Program

To help address the disparate impact of COVID-19 on faculty with dependent care responsibilities, the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Academic Personnel Services Office proposed a modification of existing policies, and, on October 29, 2020, received approval from UC Provost and Executive Vice President Michael Brown to implement the interim COVID-Related Caregiver Modified Duties Program (CCMD) as a temporary exception to policy.

The UCSD CCMD program will cover dependents of all ages, including children and dependent adults and elders. The program will be effective for three academic years beginning with the 2020-2021 through the 2022-2023 academic year. The dynamic nature of the situation requires flexible policies as we are likely to see oscillation in the severity of restrictions (e.g. periodic opening and closing of eldercare and daycare facilities and schools). While not a leave program itself, the CCCMD Program is an additional program intended to coordinate with existing leave plans.

The CCMD program will remain separate and distinct from our UC San Diego local policy, PPM 230-15 Family Accommodations Active Service Modified Duties. CCMD is available for all Faculty who are under the purview of Academic Personnel Manual 760-28(a) on the General Campus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and Health Sciences. The CCMD program is not related to extending the tenure-clock or probationary period for junior-rank appointees, and is grounded in departmental and divisional support, prioritization, and funding. To assist with prioritization, faculty should clearly indicate any exceptional circumstances related to their situation (e.g. single parent, caretaker for multiple children or elderly parents, partner is an essential worker unable to provide care, dependents have special needs, etc.). As the form requires, all duties modification requests should designate which modifications are specifically requested during which quarters (e.g. a course relief of LTEN124, during Spring 2021). No floating course relief requests will be granted.

To ensure all requests and approvals are applied equitably, the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at UC San Diego will be the final approval authority for all CCMD requests on the General Campus, and the cognizant Vice Chancellor will hold approval authority within the Health Sciences and SIO.

Allowable Modifications

An approved request for CCMD might include any of the following measures, or a combination thereof, though this list is not exhaustive:

• Relief from service obligations and responsibilities for an academic term
• Flexibility in terms of requesting days of the week and timing of classes, subject to scheduling
constraints as determined by the Registrar
• Flexibility in what courses are taught within a specific academic term
• Other support for teaching such as co-teaching with advanced graduatestudents
• Partial relief from teaching without the assignment of additional future teaching duties (full relief from teaching may also be available in exceptional circumstances)

Application Form

Faculty members who wish to apply for Interim COVID-Related Caregiver Modified Duties (CCMD) will download, save, and fill out the Application Form in Adobe Acrobat. Local routing mechanisms are listed on the form.

Jointly appointed faculty members are asked to submit a separate form to each department chair requesting modifications from the related chair's department. Department chairs or deans from separate divisions may consult on an appointees overall request before moving both forms forward to next level of review.

Eligibility

Although this program is separate and distinct from local and systemwide policy terms, CCMD is available for all Faculty who meet the caretaking requirements below, who are under the purview of Academic Personnel Manual 760-28(a) Active Service - Modified Duties (ASMD) on the General Campus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and Health Sciences.

Eligible faculty with dependent care responsibilities of 50% time or more for dependents in their homes, whose care facilities, schools, or daycares have been closed or remain less than fully operational due to COVID-19 precautions, may apply for a total of up to three quarters of CCMD within the two-year duration of the program.

Program Funding

We are aware that providing and funding CCMD requests will place some burdens on departments and divisions already experiencing operational and financial strain. Nonetheless, it is in the long-term interest of the University to support its faculty, particularly the early and mid-career faculty, and to prevent the exacerbation of preexisting inequities within academia that may cause attrition and burn out, especially among Faculty caregivers. With this COVID-related modified duties program approval, UC San Diego continues to promote a family-friendly environment, where colleagues with caretaking responsibilities can thrive and benefit from this institution’s strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Program Terms

The total amount of combined ASMD, CCMD and APM 710 exceptions may not exceed two quarters during any one academic year, excluding the ASMD child-bearing provision which allows up to three quarters of modified duties for the child-bearing appointee.
No faculty member may simultaneously use both CCMD and policy-based ASMD or exceptions to APM 710 for course release in the same quarter.
As CCMD is considered a duties modification rather than a change in workload, quarters where CCMD is requested will still result in sabbatical credit accrual for sabbatical-credit-accruing faculty.
Acknowledging the diverse schools, divisions, and departments on this campus and the varied configurations of academic duties in various units, we understand that there will be a spectrum of potential modifications of duties and that some requests for duty alterations may be unique or specific to a discipline, and that some requests may not be accommodated.
In all cases, requests for CCMD modifications will be negotiated between the requesting faculty, their department chair[s], and their dean[s] on a case-by-case basis to provide aid for as many faculty caregivers as possible while minimizing disruption to the activities of schools, divisions, and departments. For instance, chairs and deans must take into account the curriculum of the unit, the need to offer required courses, the availability of alternative instructors, and the number of individuals requesting modified duties in the same term. Likewise, in negotiating modified duties for faculty members in the health sciences, it is important to avoid disruptions in clinical care.
Although decisions about whether or when to request CCMD are made solely by faculty members, applicants for such modifications will need to submit requests with as much notice as possible. With the exception of the Fall 2020 term, such requests should be initiated at least an academic term in advance.
Use of CCMD will not be considered in advancement or personnel cases and will not affect how a candidate’s dossier is considered by reviewers in the department, the dean’s office and the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP).
Faculty whose dependents have already returned to full-time childcare, daycare, on site school, or eldercare will not be eligible for the modifications allowed by this program as it is meant to relieve the tension caused by above and beyond caretaking loads for campus faculty and support caretakers in a time of exceptional need.