Know Your Contract, Know Your Rights

Note: This “Know Your Contract” feature is being updated to incorporate gains won in our contrasts ratified in Spring 2023. If you see a similar note at the top of the FAQ you look at, then some of the information may be out of date. But the FAQs are still a first place to look for answers to your questions.


Our contract is the basis of our power as a union. If we negotiate a strong contract and ensure that it is consistently enforced, we will have the foundation we need for advancing our goals of security, fairness, and equity.

This is why members need to know their rights under our contract. We have a strong and experienced Contract Enforcement/Grievance (CEG) team working for the union, but our organized power starts with members. To get you started in learning your rights, CEG has compiled answers to the questions they hear most often about major provisions in our contract and university policies that may affect you. Look through the list of contract articles and university policies below and click on the ones where you have questions. 

Note: These FAQs cover the contract for full-time faculty and grad workers. We are working on FAQs covering the contracts for PTLs and other units.

These questions and answers are a first step, but don’t stop with the FAQ. First, read the text of the contract articles (linked in each article FAQ) that apply to your issue. Second, please contact the CEG, early and often, so the team can help you address your question (bjwalker@rutgersaaup.org for tenured and tenure-track faculty; dfillman@rutgersaaup.org or jilliant@rutgersaaup.org for NTTs and grad workers).

The FAQ can’t cover everything you’ll need to know about our contract. We didn’t write these questions and answers so we wouldn’t hear from you; on the contrary, we hope this resource will make our discussions more useful to you, us, and our union.

Article 12: Teaching Assistants and Graduate Assistants

Article 15.A: Professional Duties and Workload

Article 16: Parental and Medical Leaves

Article 17: Leave without Pay

Article 18: Personnel Files

Article 22.A: Academic- and Calendar-Year Terms

Article 25.A: Sabbatical Leaves

Article 27.A: Non-Tenure Track Faculty

University Policies: Harassment, Discrimination, Sexual Violence and Misconduct, and Title IX Procedures

University Policies: Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure for Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty