AFSCME Benefits - Human Resources

Listed below is an overview of the benefits available to you as a half-time up to full-time classified employee of Greenfield Community College.

Dental and vision coverage

A Dental and Vision plan (individual or family plan) is available at no cost to you. The plan is managed by Delta Dental. The plan does not become effective until six (6) full months of employment. Members approaching their six-month anniversary should log into the Massachusetts Public Employee Fund website (www.mpefund.org) to obtain information about the various dental and vision plans offered and to add dependents to their plan if applicable.

Sick, vacation & personal leave time

Effective with your hire date you will begin to accrue vacation leave based on a rate of ten (10) days per year. (Actual hours will be pro-rated according to how many hours/week you work) Since we are on a biweekly payroll, these accruals are also pro-rated over 26 pay periods per year. Increase in the amount of vacation you earn is based on the AFSCME union contract. Total vacation hours of up to 64 days can be carried from year to year. Also with your hire date you will begin to accrue sick leave based on a rate of 15 days per year (pro-rated to how many hours/week you work). Again your accruals are based on 26 pay periods. Sick leave is cumulative. There is no cap on the amount of sick leave you may carry. There is a sick leave payout at time of retirement only at a 20% buyback. Your accrual and usage of your sick, vacation and personal hours are listed on your payroll advice. Effective January 1 of each year, you will receive three (3) Personal Days (the number of hours is pro-rated by how many hours per week you work). Personal days cannot be carried over from one calendar year to another. All personal time must be used by December 31.

Tuition remission

Upon completion of your probationary period (6 months), tuition remission is available for you, your spouse and any dependents at any Massachusetts state college and university.* Tuition only is waived; fees are not included. (Please refer to the System-wide Tuition Remission policy for AFSCME members in the Policies section of this website.)

* Per Chapter 46 of the Acts of 2015 (UMass tuition retention legislation), the tuition and fee structure at UMass changed drastically. Whereas before the passage of Chapter 46, tuition was little more than $1,000 and fees comprised multiple thousands of dollars, upon the implementation of Chapter 46, tuition increased to an average of $10,000 per year while fees dropped proportionately. Given this change, the Commonwealth recognized that it could not give 100% tuition remission at UMass campuses as described in all collective bargaining agreements and policy and procedure handbooks. Consequently, all tuition remission agreements honored at UMass have become tuition credit programs of approximately the same value. For example, the former tuition waiver at UMass Amherst has become a tuition credit of $1,714.00.

Affirmative Action Statement

Greenfield Community College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran status, genetic information, gender identity or sexual orientation in its programs and activities as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable statutes and college policies. The College prohibits sexual harassment, including sexual violence. Inquiries or complaints concerning discrimination, harassment, retaliation or sexual violence shall be referred to the College’s Affirmative Action and/or Title IX Officer at humanresources@gcc.mass.edu, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, or the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.