Employment Practices, Unions and Labor Rights

I.    Employment Practice, Unions

The institution adheres to the provisions of Lebanese labor law, ensuring that all staff and faculty, regardless of gender or nationality, have the right to join unions, syndicates, and professional orders relevant to their fields. Examples include the Order of Engineers and Architects, the Order of Nurses, and the Lebanese Order of Psychologists.

Additionally, the university’s Rights and Responsibilities Policy, approved by its Board of Trustees, reinforces these principles by recognizing the fundamental rights of its members, including freedom of peaceful assembly, association, and equitable treatment. The policy also emphasizes the institution’s dedication to maintaining a fair and inclusive environment, where all members have equal opportunities to participate in decision-making processes and to organize around shared professional and social interests.

LAU’s Rights and Responsibility Policy:

The University abides by the Lebanese Labor Law and upholds its provisions. Therefore, it recognizes the rights of all its members to be part of Unions, Syndicates and Orders. For example, many LAU engineers (faculty members and staff) are members of the Order of Engineers and Architects, while nurses are members of Order of Nurses, University counselors are licensed psychologists and registered in the Lebanese Order of Psychologists, etc.

Extract from the RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES POLICY (Approved by the Board of Trustees on June 6 & 7, 2003)

 

Rights & Responsibilities Policy

1. Preamble:

This Policy is intended only to serve as a guideline, and should therefore be interpreted taking into consideration, inter-alia, the political, social, economical, and religious conditions prevailing in the Middle East, in general, and in Lebanon, in particular, as well as the relevant Lebanese laws and regulations.

2. Introduction:

Members of the University community have an obligation to fulfill the responsibilities incumbent upon all citizens, as well as the responsibilities of their particular roles, within the academic community. All members share the obligations to respect:

1. The fundamental rights of others.
2. The rights of others based upon the nature of the educational process.
3. The rights of the institution.
4. The rights of members to fair and equitable procedures for determining when, and upon whom, penalties for violation of the University regulations should be imposed.

3. Basic Rights:

Members of the University enjoy the same basic rights and are bound by the same responsibilities to respect the rights of others, as are all citizens. Among the basic rights are:

1. Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of political and religious beliefs, with concomitant obligation to adhere to University policies and the laws of Lebanon.
2. The University does not stand in loco parentis for its members. Members of the University have the right to organize their personal life and behavior, as long as these do not violate the law or agreements with the University voluntarily entered into, and do not interfere with the rights of others, or with the educational process.
3. Admission to employment by, and promotion within, the University shall accord with the University policies and regulation without any discrimination.
4. The right to be heard at appropriate levels of the decision making process about basic policy matters of direct concern.
5. The right to hold public meetings, in which members participate, to post notices, and to engage in peaceful, orderly demonstration. Reasonable and impartially applied rules designed to reflect the educational purposes of the institution and protect the safety of the campus shall be established regulating time, place, and manner of such activities, and allocating the use of facilities.
6. The right to appeal to the appropriate body if another member of the University is negligent or irresponsible in the performance of his or her responsibilities, or if another member of the University represents the work of others as his or her own.

4. Responsibilities:

Members of the University have responsibilities and rights based upon the nature of the educational process, and requirements of the search for the truth and its free presentation. These rights and responsibilities include:

1. Obligation to respect the freedom to teach, to learn, and to conduct research and publish findings in the spirit of free inquiry. Institutional censorship and individual or group intolerance of the opinions of others are inconsistent with this freedom. Freedom to teach and to learn implies that the teachers have the right to determine the specific content of their course, within the established course definition, and the responsibility not to part, significantly, from their area of competence, or to divert significant time to material extraneous to the subject matter of the course.
2. No research in violation of the laws may be conducted on the University premises.
3. Obligation not to interfere with the freedom of members of the University in pursuing normal academic and administrative activities, including the use of University facilities and freedom of movement.
4. Any official representation, or acting on behalf, of the University, thereby committing the University, needs the proper authorization of the President of the University.
5. Obligation not to interfere with any member’s freedom, to personally hear, and study, unpopular, and controversial, views on intellectual and public issues (subject to item C. 5).
6. Trustees have a particular responsibility to protect the integrity of the academic process from external and internal attacks, and to prevent the political, or financial, exploitation of the University by any individual or group.

5. Rights & Responsibilities of the Institution:

The institution, and any division or agency, which exercises direct or delegated authority for the institution, has rights and responsibilities of its own. The rights and responsibilities of the institution include:

1. The right and obligation to provide an open forum for members of the University to present and debate public issues in an academic spirit, so as to present the various points of view.
2. The right to prohibit individuals and groups from using the name of the University, its finances, or its physical and operating facilities, for commercial, political, or non- University activities.
3. The right and obligation not to take a position, as an institution, in electoral politics or public issues, except on those issues which directly affect the autonomy, the freedom of its members, its financial support, and its academic functions.
4. The right and obligation to protect the members of the University, and visitors to its campuses, from physical harm, threats of harm, or abuse; as well as to protect the property from damage and unauthorized use; and its academic and administrative processes from interruption.
5. The right to require that persons on campus be willing to identify themselves by name, address, and to state what connection, if any, they have with the University.
6. The right to set reasonable standards of conduct in order to safeguard the educational process, and to provide for the safety of the members of the University, and the Institution’s property.
7. The right to stop and penalize any unwanted and unbecoming sexually related behavior.
8. The right to deny pay and academic credits to members of the University who are on strike.
9. The right to require individuals or groups responsible for any activity that results in damage of University property to reimburse the University for any damage or losses resulting from such activities.

6. Right to Fair Procedure:

Members of the University have a right to fair and equitable procedures, which shall determine the validity of violation of University Regulations.

1. The procedures shall be structured so as to facilitate the reliable determination of the truth, or the falsity of charges, to provide fundamental fairness to the parties, and to be an effective instrument for the maintenance of order.
2. Charges of minor infraction of regulation, penalized by small fines or reprimands which do not become part of permanent records, may be handled expeditiously by the appropriate individual or committee. Persons so penalized have the right to appeal.
3. In case of charges of infractions of the regulations, which may lead to notation in permanent records, or to more serious penalties, such as suspension or expulsion, members of the University have the right to formal procedures with adequate due process, including the right of appeal.
4. Members of the University charged or convicted of violations under the general law may be subject to University sanctions for the same conduct, in accord with the University policies and procedures, when the conduct is in violation of a University rule essential to the continuing protection of other members of the University or safeguarding of the educational process.
5. Members of the University shall be entitled to the protection of the University, within its abilities, for liabilities incurred because of the exercise of their University duties.