CampusCare Arbitration Recap

August 19th, 2024

The Facts

Last Summer, GEO filed a grievance on behalf of a grad worker regarding Summer CampusCare enrollment. The assistant turned 26 during the Spring 2023 semester and lost access to their parents’ health insurance just as the Summer session was beginning. They attempted to enroll in CampusCare and were denied because they were not enrolled in classes during the Summer term.

The GEO contract contains the following provision: “Assistants are eligible for coverage under CampusCare or other current or future health insurance plans available to students.” We believe this language is utterly transparent: if someone is an assistant, they may enroll in CampusCare. We filed a grievance alleging that the University violated this provision of the contract. The University denied our grievance, citing CampusCare’s policy forbidding someone from enrolling in Summer coverage who is not enrolled in Summer classes and further insisting the Union cannot bargain or grieve the details of this policy because it applies to students outside of the GEO bargaining unit.

In response, we appealed the University’s decision to a third-party federal arbitrator. Arbitration can be a slow process; the arbitrator finally heard our case in February 2024. We and the University called our witnesses, presented our evidence, and made our arguments, and we submitted briefs in May 2024. Now, 3 months later (and after another Summer had already passed), we have received the arbitrator’s decision: he ruled against us.

The Ruling

We (and our lawyer) are frankly flabbergasted. We believed that our contract was completely unambiguous on this point. But the arbitrator disagreed, instead giving credence to the University’s position that the word “eligible” in this context could be understood to mean “eligible to comply with other eligibility criteria of CampusCare.” Where contract language is ambiguous, an arbitrator is tasked with considering the intent of the parties when they initially drafted the language in bargaining. The University called a witness who had been present when we negotiated this language in 2005, which we were unable to rebut. As the burden of proof laid with us, we lost.

How does this affect you? 

Hopefully it doesn’t. The only individuals affected are those who will be losing their health insurance in the Spring or Summer semesters, have an assistantship in the Summer, and who do not intend to enroll in classes in the Summer. If that’s you and you need health care coverage over the Summer, you have two options: you can either enroll in CampusCare during the Spring semester and choose to continue coverage into the Summer (which is something that anyone who is enrolled in CampusCare in the Spring may choose to do), or you can enroll in Summer classes and then enroll in CampusCare for the Summer. The former will require you to pay for a semester of CampusCare regardless of when you enroll (which currently costs $280/semester), while the latter will require you to pay those fees that are not covered by the Tuition and Fee Waiver that comes with your assistantship (which costs at least $332 because of the General Fee and potentially much more if your program has a Tuition Differential). You should talk to your Director of Graduate Studies to see if this second option could make sense for you.

What’s Next?

Frankly, we don’t think you should have to pay gratuitous fees to have health insurance over the Summer. You should have health insurance by virtue of your employment just like any other professional. While this decision is binding and we have to abide by it for now, we will find a solution through bargaining when we renegotiate our contract next year–as is our right and duty as a union.