Among higher education issues in the 1990's is concern over faculty layoffs or reduction in force (RIF) as an unavoidable administrative response to a myriad of financial, demographic, and curricular pressures. Should circumstances necessitate faculty cutbacks, the chances of institutional disruption, legal dispute, and courtroom vulnerability may be diminished if the college or university follows predetermined policies and procedures which are reflective of current judicial perspective. This research employed a legal-historical approach to derive recommendations for developing such a RIF policy at the two-year college. / One hundred and thirty state and federal cases involving faculty reduction in force were reviewed to determine court perspective regarding four major concerns: (1) the circumstances accepted as legitimate grounds for RIF, (2) legal challenges to a RIF action, (3) the burden of proof in RIF litigation, and (4) the characteristics of judicially sound RIF policy. The results of that review indicate several judicial themes pertinent to policy development. / First, the court recognizes bona fide financial exigency, enrollment decline, and program or position discontinuance as valid grounds on which to conduct faculty layoffs; and, second, if those grounds are challenged, the courts will expect the institution to bear the burden of proving them legitimate. Third, in conducting a bona fide reduction in force, the institution will be expected to provide faculty members with procedural due process sufficient to satisfy all applicable institutional, statutory, and/or constitutional standards. Fourth, faculty members may contest the validity of a RIF action by claiming breach of contract, denial of constitutional rights, arbitrary and capricious behavior, and/or bad faith. Fifth, the courts will generally defer to the expertise of the local institutional officials, unless there is clear evidence of institutional misconduct. The institution may enhance this deferential status and anticipate legal challenge to RIF actions by adhering to statutory and institutional procedures, providing adequate procedural due process, employing selection criteria derived from sound education policy, and implementing all procedures uniformly and fairly. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0776. / Major Professor: Joseph C. Beckham. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76369 |
| Contributors | White, Jill Jones., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 261 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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