Termination
Academic Staff
Academic Dismissals
Academic appointments at the University of Calgary may be terminated by dismissal (by reasons for cause, of financial exigency, or of redundancy). Only procedures for termination by way of dismissal are within the jurisdiction of the General Faculties Council.
Appointment Expiry
Academic appointees holding Specific Term appointments of more than twelve months shall normally receive a written decision whether there shall be a renewal of contract, not less than four months before the end of the stipulated period of contract (e.g. March 1).
Academic Resignation
Academic Retirement
Resignation or Retirement
A member of the academic staff intending to resign or retire shall write a formal letter of resignation to the President, with a copy to the Head of the Department and to the Dean, as early as possible, and preferably not later than four months before the date of resignation. For an academic staff member, the effective resignation date will normally be the termination of the current academic year (i.e. June 30).
Vacation Payout
An academic staff member is expected to take his/her full entitlement to paid vacation prior to termination. Except where the fulfillment of university duties precludes a staff member from taking his/her full entitlement, pay in lieu will not be permitted.
Refer to Schedule "A", Clause 2.15 and 2.16 for details regarding the accrual of annual vacation and procedures pertaining to the academic vacation payout process. Termination of Employment - Vacation Payout Form.
Offboarding
This checklist outlines the steps a manager should follow to support the resignation/retirement of an academic staff member.
Working with the academic as well as any designated contacts in your department, follow the steps outlined below to ensure the exit process runs smoothly. Not all steps will apply to all employees; complete only if applicable.
This checklist should be used for voluntary terminations only. Contact UService for assistance with an involuntary termination.
In order to help us mitigate organizational risks, we ask managers to allow a lead time of four business days prior to the last date of a resigning staff member to transact the termination, if the circumstances allow.
Preparing for Exit/Transfer
As soon as you are aware of an academic's resignation / retirement, send the departing academic a link to their Academic Staff Member Offboarding Checklist and ensure they work to complete the tasks on their checklist.
Academics must provide a written resignation/retirement letter to the President, with a copy to the Head of the Department and to the Dean. A copy of this letter should be sent to the President's Office, who will forward it to Human Resources for processing.
Academics with a defined end date (e.g. Contingent, Limited Term, or Sessional) whose appointment is ending on the pre-determined date do not need to submit a letter.
For Project Budget Owners
Meet with the academic to discuss how their research project will proceed and items related to any to students and/or research staff on the project.
If the academic is leaving the university and will be closing down their lab, they are asked to follow the Procedure for Lab Check-Out to properly decommission their lab.
Questions?
Contact Environment, Health and Safety at 403.220-6345 or [email protected] for more information
Connect with the Employee
The following activities are typically completed just prior to the employee's departure.
Arrange a time to meet with the employee to discuss the status of their teaching/projects/committee involvement/etc. and plans for knowledge transfer as required. In addition to any knowledge transfer that must take place, ensure any university information/data is also transferred to an accessible secure shared drive and is not saved on the staff member's computer drive.
If the employee has asked you to provide a written or verbal reference, ensure you have them complete the Reference Consent Form and keep it on file for one year.
Ensure the employee has submitted all outstanding expenses, including Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER), before the end of their last day. Also, if the employee has any outstanding expense advances, ensure they have been paid back.
If relocation reimbursement was provided for the staff member and they are leaving the university prior to the return-in-service commitment being met, they will be required to refund the remaining portion. See the Relocation Expenses - Operating Standards and Practices (section 4.7 – 4.9) for additional details.
Human Resources will be in contact with the individual to indicate the amount owing and discuss repayment options.
Academic staff members are expected to take his/her full entitlement to paid vacation prior to termination. Except where the fulfillment of university duties precludes a staff member from taking her/her full entitlement, pay in lieu will not be permitted.
Refer to Schedule "A", Clause 2.15 and 2.16 for details regarding the accrual of annual vacation and procedures pertaining to the academic vacation payout process. If a vacation payout is required, complete the Termination of Employment - Vacation Payout Form.
Ensure all equipment and/or software (e.g. cell phone, computer and peripherals, tools, research equipment, etc.) have been returned and given back to the appropriate stakeholder.
Collect any University Credit Cards (P-Card or T & E Card) in the employee's name and destroy the card(s). Visa Purchasing Cardholder Maintenance and/or Travel & Expense Cardholder Maintenance forms will need to be completed to cancel the card(s).
On the employee's last day, ensure they return all keys/swipe access cards (including office, filing cabinet, building access cards, electronic access cards, etc.). Also, collect all remaining business cards.
If the employee is leaving the university, you should also collect and destroy their employee ID card (Unicard).
If the employee has swipe access to any buildings/offices/labs, etc., contact your access administrator to remove access as appropriate.
If the employee had a SecurID device, collect it and return it IT (7th floor, Math Sciences).
Administrative Preparation
Send an email to the individuals in your faculty/unit to let them know the employee will be leaving. A sample email is included below:
It is with mixed feelings that I announce [employee's name] will be leaving our team and her/his last day will be [Date]. Please join me in thanking [employee's name] for all he/she has done over the last [x months/years] to [provide some specific details about the employee's contributions, projects, etc.].
Please join me in wishing [employee's name] all the best in his/her future endeavors.
Best regards,
[Manager]
You are no longer required to complete an IT access removal form as part of the off-boarding process when an employee is leaving the University of Calgary. The process for IT is triggered automatically based on PeopleSoft HR data when an employee no longer has an active job record. Access removal includes, but is not limited to: shared drives, shared email accounts, SecurID, and individual file shares.
In the event of a transfer and access removal is required, please select the appropriate IT service from the IT website that the access removal is associated with on the services page.
If the employee has access to any stand-alone applications or systems (those that are not authenticated through their IT account), ensure you contact the appropriate administrator to remove their access.
Prior to their last day, remove any temporary delegation for Finance or Human Resource transactions effective their last day.
If this employee was a department budget owner in your faculty or unit, contact the Finance Partners in your area to identify impacts their departure might have on administration of budgets in your faculty or unit. It is important that their departure does not leave a gap in the approval processes required to maintain consistent faculty or unit operations.
Request a change or termination of the telephone using an Information Technology Voice and Network Services request form.
Ensure the faculty/unit phone and email lists as well as website contact lists/information including their faculty profile, have been updated by contacting the appropriate administrator(s) in your area.
For Employees Retiring
If the retiring employee has a minimum of two (2) years of service, there are university funds available to support a retirement party/gift.
For information on accessing these funds, email [email protected].