Substitute teacher loses unfair dismissal appeal
A substitute teacher at a Donegal school has had a claim for unfair dismissal rejected by an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Lisa Brennan of Marameelan, Dungloe took a claim against the board of management of Rosses Community School in
Dungloe after working as a substitute teacher there between 2005 and 2008.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal dismissed her claim after finding she did not have one year's continuous service.
She told the tribunal worked as a substitute teacher for from September 2002 to 2003 and then went to Manchester to qualify as a teacher before returning to work at the school from 2005 to 2007 as a substitute teacher.
The business teacher left the school and the claimant was given the business teacher’s hours on a regular basis. She continued to work into 2008 and she requested a contract of employment to which the deputy principal replied he would get back to her but never did. She was paid on an hourly basis and she never received any holiday pay.
In June 2008 she was approached by the school chaplain and told he had heard she was not going to be around the
following year.
In her evidence she said she had no reason to believe she would not be returning to work the following year requested a meeting with the principal. At that meeting, the principal congratulated her on a successful year but informed her he had no further hours to offer her for the following year. The principal advised her to move away and gain some experience. She told the principal that she was disappointed and would be checking her rights in relation to her employment, to which he replied that she had no rights.
Ms Brennan wrote to the board of management which responded to her after a meeting that she had no employment rights.
Principal Mr John Gorman told the tribunal the hours of a business studies teacher who left in March 2007 were distributed to Ms. Brennan and another existing Business Studies teacher.
At the end of August 2007 she was brought back to the school to cover the hours of Business Studies again in a similar capacity. She resumed her teaching in early September 2007 and continued until the end of May 2008. She was only paid for the hours of class contact. For the academic year 2007/2008, she was contracted from August 27, 2007 to June 26, 2008 but this period was punctured by holidays. She was also not employed by the Department of Education during the summer months.
In November 2007, Mr. Gorman contacted the payroll section of the Department of Education and was informed that if people were to be allocated teaching hours on a contract basis, a school audit of teaching needs would have to be conducted and if it was found that teachers were required, the actual existence of positions would first have to be advertised and interviews for
conducted by the selection committee.
Ms Brennan’s qualification had been in business studies and when he spoke to Ms Brennan in June, he informed her that there was a demand for 32 hours per week for business and economics. The deputy principal was contracted to provide up to 18 hours of business and eight hours of economics, and another teacher was contracted to provide up to 22 hours of business. She was informed that the contracted teachers would be covering the business studies hours for the academic year on 2008/2009 and she was invited to continue on the substitute panel and be engaged as a substitute teacher, which she declined.
In cross-examination, when put to Mr. Gorman that Ms. Brennan had been moved from her job to provide a position for his wife, he explained that his wife had applied for the Higher Diploma in the academic year of 2008/2009 and had been successful with same. She had done her teacher training block release at the school and in August 2009, she submitted her curriculum vitae for the cover panel for substitute teachers and is currently on that panel.
He denied that allegation that he told Ms Brennan to move away from home and gain further experience in teaching.
One years's continuous service is required before there can be a claim for unfair dismissal the tribunal dismissed the appeal on the grounds she had not worked for a continuous year.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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