OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-315
AN ACT CONCERNING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR
ADJUNCT HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY.
Primary Analyst: JS 4/1/22
Contributing Analyst(s): CW
Reviewer: SB
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 23 $ FY 24 $
UConn Various - Cost 119,838 119,838
UConn Various -
Potential Cost
Potential
Significant
Potential
Significant
Board of Regents for Higher
Education
Various - Cost 40,369 40,369
Board of Regents for Higher
Education
Various -
Potential Cost
Potential
Significant
Potential
Significant
Note: Various=Various
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill establishes a new process regarding potential eligibility for
unemployment among all college and university adjunct instructors.
The bill results in a potential significant cost to the constituent units,
beginning in FY 23, associated with the possibility of increased
unemployment claims. The significant cost is potential because the
Connecticut Department of Labor ultimately determines whether to
grant unemployment benefits. However, the bill is likely to result in
unemployment benefits for at least some adjuncts, particularly for the
Board of Regents.
The bill also results in annual costs, beginning in FY 23, of $119,838
to UConn and $40,369 to the Board of Regents, associated with the
addition of personnel needed to comply with the bill's requirements to
submit lists of adjuncts regarding potential eligibility for 2022SB-00315-R000265-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 4
unemployment benefits.
Unemployment benefits. The potential significant cost related to
unemployment benefits is borne by the constituent units because as
reimbursable employers, the units do not pay unemployment insurance
taxes. Rather, they reimburse the state Unemployment Insurance Trust
Fund dollar-for-dollar on all benefits paid for former employees.
The bill establishes that "reasonable assurance" of similar future
employment for adjuncts and other higher education employees is met
– and unemployment is less likely to be required – if, among other
criteria: (1) the contract is not contingent on course programming, and
(2) a contract for the next term is in place at least ten days before the end
of the current term. Those who lack reasonable assurance may
potentially be considered eligible for unemployment benefits, and those
who are determined to have reasonable assurance but are not re-hired
may seek unemployment benefits.
Due to the bill's reasonable assurance standards, the Board of Regents
institutions anticipate potentially needing to pay unemployment costs
for nearly all its adjuncts, for, at minimum, the periods between
academic terms. Each semester, the Board of Regents institutions
employ between approximately 3,400 and 4,350 adjuncts, based on
semester information from fall 2019 through spring 2022. Between 76
and 84 percent of adjuncts (ranging from approximately 2,900 to 3,400
individuals) were returning after teaching the prior semester. Adjunct
contracts offered by the Board of Regents typically are contingent and
at least sometimes are not offered in the listed timeframe.
Consequently, many Board of Regents adjuncts could be assessed by the
labor department as lacking reasonable assurance, and therefore
potentially eligible for unemployment.
The potential significant cost to the University of Connecticut
(UConn) is also associated with the possibility of newly paying
unemployment compensation to some adjuncts due to the bill. In FY 22,
approximately 850 adjuncts are or have been employed by UConn; of
these, approximately 670 do not have multi-year contracts and therefore 2022SB-00315-R000265-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 4
could be assessed as lacking reasonable assurance.
The extent of the bill's potential costs to the constituent units will
depend on numerous factors regarding the adjuncts who are
determined by the labor department to be eligible for unemployment.
These factors include but are not limited to whether the persons file for
unemployment, gross wages over the year from all sources, and family
size. The pay rates of adjuncts are approximately $1,050 biweekly on
average for the Board of Regents in FY 22, with average semester
earnings of $8,546 for FY 20 through FY 22. At UConn in FY 22, on
average adjuncts are teaching or have taught 4.2 credits in a semester at
an average rate of $2,078 per credit, for average semester earnings of
$8,750.
Personnel. The annual cost to UConn is associated with the hiring of
two 0.5 FTE program managers at anticipated costs totaling $119,838 in
FY 23, consisting of $60,000 in wages and $59,838 in fringe benefits.
1
These staff will be responsible for working with department chairs and
other personnel to gather and submit the required information on each
adjunct employed by the university. The annual cost to the Board of
Regents for personnel to carry out the bill's duties are estimated to total
$40,369, consisting of $20,212 in wages for a 0.5 FTE Data Analyst I and
fringe benefits of $20,157. It is anticipated that accomplishing the bill's
list duties will require more time for UConn than the Board of Regents,
as it is expected that at least some UConn adjuncts may meet the
reasonable assurance standard and therefore UConn will need to
compile more-detailed information.
These increased personnel costs may be funded by either the General
Fund or other constituent unit revenues (e.g., tuition). If the new
positions are funded through the General Fund, then the fringe benefits
1
The fringe benefit costs for employees funded out of other appropriated funds are
budgeted within the fringe benefit account of those funds, as opposed to the fringe
benefit accounts within the Office of the State Comptroller. The estimated active
employee fringe benefit cost associated with most personnel changes for other
appropriated fund employees is 99.73% of payroll in FY 23.
2022SB-00315-R000265-FN.DOCX Page 4 of 4
costs will be incurred within the Office of the State Comptroller.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation in adjunct pay rates, overall
wage inflation, and the number of adjuncts employed by the constituent
units.