FAQ
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Who to Contact Questions
Call us at 416-423-3600 or email [email protected]. Social media can be helpful, but the best source of truth is your Union.
Call Payroll at 416-395-9642. The OTBU Handbook in the Documents & Forms section has a full contact list.
Contact Benefits at 416-395-9642. Refer to the OTBU Handbook 📄 in Documents & Forms for more information. Try both phone and email for best results.
Resources & Documentation
You can find the OT Handbook 📄 in Documents & Forms.
Profile Updates & Job-Related Procedures
- Log on to your SmartFind profile. Under ‘Schedule’, check ‘Locations’ and ‘Classifications’.
- If locations or classification codes are missing, log in to the TDSB Staff section and go to ‘Employee Services’. Under ‘SmartFind Express’, select ‘Teachers/Occasional Teachers’.
- Download the ‘Occasional Teacher Profile’ PDF. Add any additional locations and codes.
- Email this form to [email protected].
- If you have difficulties, contact the SmartFind Teaching Dispatch Help Desk at 416-338-4747 Ext. 2, or the OTBU office at 416-423-3600.
- Specifically requested by school
- School’s preferred lists by subject/grade
- School’s priority list (not by subject/grade)
- OT’s preferred schools/zones by qualified subject
- OT’s preferred schools/zones by willingness to teach the subject
- OT’s preferred schools/zones regardless of subject
You may be on a school’s priority list, or SFE may call you if no subject/grade-qualified OT is available. The decision to accept these jobs is yours.
Yes, if not restricted as a condition of employment. Schools can request you by:
- Personally contacting you to be pre-booked (the school should enter the job in SFE immediately)
- Entering the job into SFE and specifying you as the requested OT. Accept or decline the job immediately.
Members should have received an email from the TDSB about renewing their place on the Occasional list near the end of May/start of June. To remain on the OT list, complete the online renewal at www.tdsb.on.ca 🔗 starting June 1st.
- Go to www.tdsb.on.ca
- Click on Staff at the top of the page
- Log in with your account
- Click on the TDSBWEB link on the MyTDSB page
- Click on Employee Services → Forms
If you experience issues logging in, contact Client Services Desk at 416-395-4357, option 5.
If you failed to apply for reinstatement by July 30 or did not work the required 20 days, you will be removed from the roster. You can still apply for reinstatement by the deadline.See the OTBU Handbook on the homepage in the Documents & Forms section for details.
Incident Reporting & Safety
Download and fill out these forms:
Only the OTBU receives the Bullying and Harassment Form. You may send the other forms at your discretion.
Report the incident to the Principal and call your Union. Under Documents & Forms the OT Handbook 📄 has guidance in Appendix A.
Definitions:
Workplace Violence includes physical force, attempts, or threats that could cause injury. Assailants can be students, co-workers, parents, guardians, or visitors.
Workplace Violence includes physical force, attempts, or threats that could cause injury. Assailants can be students, co-workers, parents, guardians, or visitors.
Yes. Under Section 43 of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act:
- Report the problem.
- Ensure student safety.
- Remain in a safe place.
- If there are still “reasonable grounds,” contact your representative or a government inspector.
- Contact the District Office.
Occasional Teacher Information
The Education Act defines an occasional teacher as someone who substitutes for a teacher who is part of the regular teaching staff. OTs and contract teachers are both certified, contribute to the Teachers’ Pension Plan, and pay union dues.
Yes. Occasional teachers who pay union dues are full members of OSSTF with rights and responsibilities under the collective agreement.
A casual OT should not be assigned more than 1.0 FTE. Daily OTs may be asked to do one full period on-call. Contact OTBU if you’re consistently given full-period on-calls.LTOs are bound by the workload provisions of the teacher they replace.
Ten. After ten consecutive days, the job becomes an LTO and pay is retroactive. Contact your O.A.
Scheduling Conflicts & Job Management
The Board may remove the name of any OT who has not worked 20 FTE days in the school year.See: Collective Agreement 📄
If SFE is calling, it likely means your previous job was cancelled and a new one is available.
If a job is extended, it may conflict with a future booking. Stay in the current job to support continuity. Cancel the future job as soon as possible.
Be ready to leave immediately. Late calls happen when the system still needs to fill positions. Consider distance and travel time before accepting.
Complete a Miscellaneous Leave Form and block yourself on SFE. Choose whether or not you want to be called for future jobs. If you’re out of the country, disable calls to prevent voicemails.
Long-Term Occasional (LTO) Assignments
Applying to Posted Long Term Occasional Teaching Assignments
LTO job postings are available online and posted for four business days.
How to Access LTO Job Postings and Application Forms
- Go to the TDSB website: www.tdsb.on.ca
- Select Staff and then proceed to log in (see page 19 for login instructions)
- Once logged in, select Employee Services
- Click on the Job Postings link on the left
- Then click on Long Term Occasional
You may select and sort job postings by panel, all zones, or individual zones. To view more details for an individual posting, click on the Job Titles highlighted in green.
Application Submission
Send a completed application package to the school principal for each LTO job posting. Refer to the job posting for specific submission details.
After Being Hired into an LTO Position
- Once hired, the school is responsible for creating a job (usually 3-4 weeks) on SmartFindExpress until the LTO assignment is processed. This ensures that the occasional teacher is paid promptly and does not receive calls for other work.
- If you create jobs in SFE for an absent teacher on sick leave and then put the teacher “on leave,” all future-dated jobs will be cancelled in SFE. Monitor this to ensure the system creates a vacant job to pay the occasional teacher until they are set up as the LTO.
10th Day of the Assignment
- On the 10th day of the assignment, the school must submit paperwork to Employee Services to have the Occasional Teacher set up as an LTO.
- If you receive a cancellation call for a job in SFE where you have been working towards your 10-day status, check with the school regarding your status. The teacher you are replacing may have been put on leave, causing all future-dated jobs to be cancelled.
- Once the LTO appointment is set up and the LTO’s name appears under the school list in SmartFindExpress, the school must advise the LTO to block themselves on the SFE dispatch system for the duration of their assignment. If not, the LTO will continue to receive phone calls for work.
- Information on how to block yourself is available in the Quick Reference Cards at the back of this Handbook.
For Half-Time LTOs
- If you have been hired as a half-time LTO, you must block yourself off by modifying your daily availability.
- If you are a half-time LTO who works every other day, follow the same procedure under daily availability and block the days you are unavailable.
- If you are a half-time LTO who works every other day as an occasional teacher, remind the schools where you work as an occasional teacher that they need to split your full-day job into two half-day assignments for two different days.
- Adjusting your daily availability in SFE will need to be done every week.
After Your LTO Ends
Once your LTO has ended, it is your responsibility as the Occasional Teacher to ensure that you are available again on the SmartFindExpress system to receive calls for daily work.
- You need to cancel all occasional teaching jobs that you accepted prior to getting your LTO.
- Correct Placement on the LTO salary grid requires:
- Your most current rating statement and rating statement covering letter
- Recognized teaching experience
If you do not have an up-to-date rating statement or proof of recognized teaching experience, you need to:
- Complete the online Letter of Intent form (see Appendix D – “sample” Letter of Intent) via the TDSB website under Employee Services/Forms/Occasional Teaching/ Change in Salary – Online Letter of Intent, for QECO if you do not have a rating, before the end of the LTO.
- Change in Salary – Online Letter of Intent
You need to complete the above online Letter of Intent before the end of the LTO to receive pay retroactively. If you do not submit the Letter of Intent online before the end of your current LTO, your new rating statement will be effective on your next LTO.
A. Qualifications (Rating Statement)
- QECO Statement of Evaluation
- Your LTO salary placement will be at Category A1 until you send a copy of your QECO Statement of Evaluation to the Employee Services, Occasional Teaching Records.
- Salary adjustments are subject to the provisions of Bill 115.
- Secondary – OSSTF Certification Rating Statement
- Your LTO salary placement will be Group 1 until you send a copy of your QECO statement to the Board.
B. Proof of Recognized Teaching Experience
- Provide evidence that you were certified to teach during those times.
- Provide proof of teaching experience with any school board or ministry-inspected private schools.
- Contact previous boards to request a statement of teaching experience on official board letterhead showing employment start and end dates (day/month/year) and whether contract or LTO, full or part-time experience.
- Letters from school principals or staff will not be accepted for salary credit. Contracts and Records of Employment will not be accepted.
- Please check the TDSB website for the most up-to-date list of OT Department employees.
- Short-term (Daily) Occasional Teacher pay rates are established through negotiations with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (representing the Elementary Occasional Teachers) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (representing the Secondary Occasional Teachers). It may take one or two pay periods to see changes to pay rates.
A Long Term Occasional Teacher will be paid according to their appropriate grid placement (recognized teaching experience and qualifications) by their Collective Agreement. Long-term Occasion pay will be retroactive to the first day of the assignment. The annual salary on the salary grid is divided by 194 (representing the number of school days in a school year). The long-term occasional teacher is paid 1/194 of the annual grid rate for each day worked (including applicable professional activity day(s).
All Occasional Teachers are paid by direct bank deposit every 2nd Thursday according to the pay schedule. Pay is always 2 weeks in arrears. Direct deposit requires the completion of an authorization form and a voided cheque.
Membership & Reinstatement
Experience from other school boards does not count toward TDSB OT experience.
OTs may qualify for Employment Insurance during breaks (e.g. summer, winter). The Board sends ROEs to Service Canada electronically.To apply:
Complete the Membership Reinstatement form and pay any penalty fee.Form: Membership Reinstatement Form 📄
You can email, fax, or mail your signed form to the Ontario College of Teachers. It may take up to four weeks.
Additional Notes
The OTBU Handbook, available in the Documents & Forms section, contains SmartFind Express instructions and additional FAQ resources.