Making Gains for PTS Members: T2200 Forms
November 26, 2020
Colin Jones, FSA President
For years, the FSA has been advocating around the issues created by the lack of office space for our members who teach into Part-Time Studies (PTS). Related to this is the reality that many instructors in PTS use their own homes for this work – we are referring to this as a reality of non-pandemic times, and not the one that many of our members are facing temporarily due to COVID-19.
We are also advocating for BCIT to make available T2200 forms to all FSA members who have been utilizing their homes as places of work during the pandemic. This matter is currently with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and multiple sectors are advocating for this. It is important to recognize that the provision of T2200 forms for PTS instructors is part of a systemic inequity that existed prior to the onset pandemic.
In 2016, through survey responses from members in PTS, we started to specifically raise the issue of BCIT not issuing T2200 forms for PTS instructors, a decision which precluded them from deducting work from home expenses against their income. We raised it informally and regularly with BCIT decision-makers and, in 2018, we sent letters to both the BCIT Board of Governors and BCIT senior leadership highlighting this as a “quick win” for improving conditions for members in PTS.
On November 24th, BCIT informed PTS Instructors via email that: “Effective for the 2020 taxation year, BCIT will issue T2200 “Declaration of Conditions of Employment” forms to any Part-time Studies (“PTS”) faculty who confirms they are eligible (per point 1 below) and request one. This is the form required for any employees who wish to deduct work from home expenses against their income. The form will be issued with the recognition that PTS faculty may be eligible to deduct workspace in the home expenses against their income from teaching at BCIT.” Full information posted on the Loop (BCIT employee access only).
This is just one of the issues that the FSA’s Caucus on Part-Time Studies (COPTS) has been pushing for, and we are pleased to see that BCIT has now addressed it. We know that there are many more matters to be addressed, and we will continue to fight for improved rights for PTS, as we did in the most recent round of bargaining when your Bargaining Team negotiated pooled funds specifically for PTS instructors to access both sick leave and professional development.
The real credit for this “quick win” on T2200 forms goes to our members in PTS who continued to tirelessly raise this issue at every opportunity – as recently as a member profile we ran last month – and continued to hold the FSA and BCIT to account for pushing this forward. Change isn’t always easy, and it certainly isn’t always quick – even when it should be – but it is usually a result of collective action and we truly appreciate the time and effort that members make to be part of these changes.