TL;DR
After a break since the end of June, Thursday’s bargaining session focused entirely on the Disability Accommodations side letter. Rutgers’ Office of Employment Equity (OEE) provided a detailed overview of the university’s current accommodation process, policies, and data, giving both parties an opportunity to clarify how the system currently operates. The coalition then identified key areas where members have experienced barriers—including delays, inconsistent decision-making, burdensome documentation requirements, and decentralized funding—and presented proposals to strengthen protections. While management agreed to provide additional data and claimed they believe that the parties may not be far apart on several issues, it did not commit to providing a counterproposal before the next session. Both sides agreed to meet again within the next 30 days to continue negotiations.
Highlights from the Session
Rutgers Defends their Existing Accommodations Policies & Practices
The session opened with a presentation from Rutgers’ Office of Employment Equity (OEE), which outlined the university’s current disability accommodation process, including how requests are submitted, reviewed, and decided. They also shared data on accommodation requests, approval rates, and processing times while describing its current policies on reasonable accommodations, appeals, and confidentiality.
Throughout the presentation, our bargaining team pressed for greater transparency, asking for information that was not included in the university’s data, including how many accommodations are only partially approved, how long pending requests remain unresolved, appeal outcomes, interim accommodations, and whether the reported data includes lecturers, graduate workers, and postdoctoral scholars. Management agreed to provide additional information where available.
Our Unions Challenge the Current Process
Following Rutgers’ presentation, union representatives explained why existing policies have not adequately protected faculty seeking accommodations.
Our team raised concerns about lengthy delays, burdensome documentation requirements, inconsistent decision-making across departments, and accommodation requests that are withdrawn because members become frustrated with the process or leave their positions before receiving the support they need. Members also described cases in which accommodations were delayed for weeks while faculty were left without the resources they required to continue working.
The unions also challenged Rutgers’ reliance on individual departments when evaluating and funding accommodations. We argued that accommodations should be evaluated based on the resources of the university as a whole—not individual schools or departments—and that departments should never bear the financial responsibility for legally required accommodations. Just as importantly, accommodation decisions should not depend on the culture, resources, or leadership of a particular department. Faculty should never be made to feel like a burden for requesting accommodations or have access to accommodations shaped by the attitudes of individual supervisors. A centralized process would create a more consistent, equitable, and neutral system while ensuring accommodation decisions are guided by expertise rather than departmental circumstances.
We Center Members’ Experiences
The session also underscored the human impact of the current system. Coalition members shared experiences illustrating how the existing process can discourage employees from seeking accommodations or leave them waiting for extended periods without support—including one member who waited eight weeks before receiving an accommodation and others who ultimately left their positions after the process broke down.
Management’s own data showed that only 139 of 267 accommodation requests (52%) were approved. Management also acknowledged that this figure includes requests that were only partially approved, but could not say how many approvals were partial rather than full. That uncertainty reinforced the coalition’s concerns that the current process is too often approached as a matter of legal compliance rather than ensuring faculty receive the accommodations they need to succeed.
Our bargaining team emphasized that accommodations are not an unfair advantage—they are an investment in equity that enables faculty to fully contribute to Rutgers’ teaching, research, and service mission. The goal of a strong accommodations process should not be to provide the minimum that protects the university from liability, but rather to ensure faculty have the support they need to do their best work, to the benefit of students and the university as a whole. That is why stronger contractual protections, clear timelines, and a transparent, equitable accommodation process remain bargaining priorities.
Where Things Stand Now
Significant differences remain, though the session helped clarify where the parties agree—and where they do not. Management maintained that accommodation requests should be evaluated based on the resources of the university as a whole and stated that, when departments lack the resources to provide an accommodation, requests are escalated so additional funding can be identified. However, the coalition noted that members’ experiences suggest the process does not always operate that way in practice, with departments often playing too large a role in accommodation decisions.
Rutgers did not commit to providing a counterproposal before the next meeting, and key questions remain unresolved, including timelines, centralized funding, and whether these protections should be incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement rather than addressed through university policy or a side letter.
Next Steps
The parties agreed to schedule another bargaining session focused on disability accommodations. Before then, the coalition has requested additional data from Rutgers, including information on appeal outcomes, partial approvals, interim accommodations, processing times, and whether accommodation data includes all represented employee groups. This information will help inform continued negotiations as the coalition presses for stronger contractual protections for members seeking workplace accommodations.
Mark your calendar!
Our next scheduled session is on Friday, August 7, from 9AM-1PM.
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Our Bargaining Team
| Austin | Rooney | Camden | Philosophy & Religion |
| Beth | Adubato | Newark | School of Criminal Justice |
| Bryan | Sacks | Camden | Philosophy & Religion |
| David | Letwin | College Ave-NB | Rutgers Arts Online |
| Howie | Swerdloff | Cook-NB | Labor Studies & Employee Relations |
| Boris | Paskhover | Newark | Otolaryngology (NJMS) |
| Catherine | Monteleone | RWJMS-NB | Medicine |
| Claire | O’Connell | Busch-Nb | School Of Health Professions |
| Cynthia | Sutton | RSDM-Newark | RSDM Diagnostic |
| Jeff | Levine | College Ave-NB | Family Medicine (RWJ) |
| Josh | Bucher | College Ave-NB | Emergency Medicine (RWJ) |
| Kathleen | Beebe | Newark | Orthopaedics (NJMS) |
| Melissa | Rogers | Newark | Microbiology (NJMS) |
| Pankaj | Agarwalla | Newark | Neurosurgery (NJMS) |
| Rula | Btoush | Newark | School of Nursing |
| Stephan | Schwander | NB Piscataway | SPH |
| Tessa | Bergsbaken | Newark | Immunity & Inflammation (NJMS) |
| LaToya | Gibbons | Camden | Enrollment & Student Success |
| Miguel | Rodriguez | College Ave-NB | School of Arts and Sciences |
| Adrian | Liu | College Ave-NB | Philosophy |
| Alexander | Steiner | RCI | Radiation Oncology |
| Annika | Barber | Busch-NB | Microbiology |
| Becky | Givan | Cook-NB | Labor Studies & Employee Relations |
| Britt | Paris | College Ave-NB | Library & Information Science |
| Bryan | Oller | Newark | Physics |
| Carlos | Decena | Livingston-NB | Latino & Hispanic Caribbean St |
| Chidera | Ntiwunka-Ifeanyi | Busch-NB | Biomedical Engineering |
| Emily | Marker | Camden | History |
| Ian | Oiler | Newark | Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine/Earth and Environmental Sciences |
| Kathy | Lopez | Camden | Public Policy |
| Kyle | Riismandel | Newark | History |
| Lee | Carpenter | Camden | Law School |
| Lily | Todorinova | Douglass-NB | New Brunswick Library |
| Paul | O’Keefe | Livingston-NB | Geography |
| Season | Qiu | Newark | Molecular And Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Tara | Matise | Busch-NB | Genetics |
| Heather | Pierce | College Ave-NB | Political Science |
| Luis | Soto | Livingston-NB | Criminal Justice |