Professional Development Expense Account (PDEA)

1. Purpose

The purpose of the PDEA is to assist eligible regular and term PEA staff in meeting their professional development expenses. For the purposes of these Guidelines, professional development includes those activities which enhance a staff member's work performance, ability or effectiveness.

2. Claimable Expenses

The following expenses can be claimed for reimbursement:

a) travel (including accommodation), tuition, course or registration fees and other expenses for conferences, workshops, seminars and other similar activities; and meetings of professional and business organizations. (See #4 below regarding reimbursement of tuition and course fees);

b) membership fees in professional and business organizations;

c) expenses directly associated with the staff member's work responsibilities or professional development program (eg. books, journals, computer hardware and software; audio-visual equipment, materials, page charges, reprints, interlibrary loan charges).

As non-taxable benefits, any goods, books, or equipment purchased from the Professional Development Expense Account (PDEA) will remain the property of the University.

3. Annual Allocations

Eligibility

All PEA staff members holding regular appointments and all PEA staff members who have completed, within the academic year, three continuous years of a term appointment with the University and who are not on leave without pay for the academic year will be eligible for PDEA.

Entitlements(Ref. 1)

Each year members will receive a statement of their PDEA from the Accounting Office.

Eligibility is assessed and annual PDEA allocations are calculated by Human Resources according to employment status in the academic year (1 July - 30 June) and made available in a PDEA account in the name of each PEA staff member on 1 July of each year.

The amount available for eligible PEA staff members is $250 per annum effective from July 1, 1999(Ref .2) . Where applicable, this amount will be prorated by three factors: payroll FTE; sessional status; and length of employment during the academic year (this last factor does not apply to staff members on maternity or parental leave).

• PEA staff members who have part time positions will receive an amount prorated by payroll FTE based on status as of 1 July or status on date of hire if after 1 July;
• PEA staff members who have sessional appointments will receive an amount prorated in proportion to the layoff period;
• PEA staff members appointed between 1 January and 30 June will have their PDEA allowance reduced by 50%;
• Regular PEA staff members returning from leave without pay will be prorated in proportion to time worked during the academic year and their payroll FTE status on the date of return to work.

Please note that once allocations are granted, no adjustments will be made for revised appointments.

4. Reimbursement of Tuition and Course Fees

Where an employee is seeking reimbursement for tuition and/or course fees, and these fees do not exceed the balance in the employee's professional development expense account, and the employee submits to the University an official receipt for income tax purposes (eg. T2202A), the University will reimburse the employee on the basis that the fees paid are a non-taxable benefit. The University must retain the original official receipts.

Where the tuition and/or course fees are greater than the professional development expense account balance, or where an employee provides a receipt other than an official receipt for income tax purposes (T2202A), the University will reimburse the employee (up to the amount of the professional development expense account balance). In these cases, the employee may not claim either tuition credit or the education amount to the extent they have been reimbursed.

5. Claims

Staff members may submit expense claims for authorization by their department/unit head. The officer in each unit who authorizes the claims should forward the completed forms with supporting documentation directly to the Accounting Office, which has the responsibility of tracking the accounts. Staff members are requested to minimize the number of claims to be processed by normally submitting claims of at least $50.00 on any one occasion.

If a dispute arises between a staff member and supervisor concerning the eligibility of a claim, the matter shall be referred to the individual to whom the supervisor reports for a decision. A staff member who feels that a PDEA claim has been unfairly rejected may request, in writing, that the Association/University Committee established under the PEA Collective Agreement conduct a review of the application and the decision and, if appropriate, make a recommendation to the University. Such a decision will not be subject to the grievance and arbitration procedures.

6. Unexpended Balances

Unexpended balances at the end of the academic year (30 June) will be carried forward automatically for each staff member for future professional development use. Unexpended balances will not be added to a staff member's salary. At the time of departure from the University, unexpended balances in PDEA accounts will be transferred to the Central Professional Development Fund.

Ref. 1 - The University made available a one-time allocation of $350 for those PEA staff members who met the eligibility criteria set out in this Policy, (pro-rated in accordance with the staff member's payroll FTE status) at the time of the signing of the first PEA Collective AGreement (October 16, 1996).

Ref. 2 - The amount available for eligible PEA staff members for 1996, 1997, and 1998 was $170 per annum.

February 27, 1997
November 1, 1997 (revised)
June 27, 2000 (revised)