Forms of Workplace Can be Subtle or Overt…

Do You Really Know What Workplace Abuse Looks Like?

Overtime work

GAs have reported being assigned a large number of hours per week exceeding the 20hr/wk limit, with some at 40hr/wk or above. There is no UH overtime policy for GAs to compensate for this overwork.

Work outside of job description

GAs have reported supervisors outsourcing their own workload to them. This includes work of lecturers or professors, such as making the syllabus for a course or leading a significant portion of course instruction.

Harassment and discrimination

GAs have reported their supervisors being racist, ableist, and sexist, as well as being discriminatory in communication, assignment of work, and assessment of program progress. In some cases, this includes preferential treatment for some students who are also abusive, and can interfere with impartial assessment of GA academic work. Intersectionality of abuse has been observed, disproportionately affecting marginalized student groups.

Workplace safety

There is no built-in worker’s compensation insurance for GA injuries on the job. GAs in the hard sciences have reported being required to operate dangerous equipment and interact with toxic materials, surpassing the risk level they are comfortable with and detailed in the contract.

Ethics

Sporadic posting timelines for open GA positions, limited numbers of GA positions granted to departments by deans, and insufficient communication throughout application processes limit the degree of choice many students have of their workplace. Further, transparency about UHM funding sources is insufficient for many GAs to make informed decisions about where to contribute their labor according to their political values. For example, a substantial amount of money that funds GA positions comes from the US Department of Defense, and is routed through the Applied Research Laboratory that is part of the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation.