Thanks everyone, I think i understand this better now.
Temporary appointments give flexibility in recriting people for short-term
temporary work. HR's concern is that we do not follow the formal process of
obtaining management approval or follow the full advertising and selection
process for temporary appointments. HR does not want people who have not
been through the usual selection process to gain employment rights 'through
the back door', via posts that have not been authorised.
So far I have always been able to offer further work to those who want it,
but I am not sure how we could fund redundancy payments if I could not offer
someone work again.
How can HEIs employ high quality support workers to meet students' support
needs in a responsive and flexible way, without risk of falling foul of
employment law?
Clare
Clare
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Claire Wickham, Centre for
Access and Communication Studies
Sent: 05 August 2003 15:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: employing support workers
Inserting a break in employment is now no longer evidence that it is not
continuous employment: the criterion is the pattern of employment. Thus,
for example, if you are employed for 3 10-week periods each year, that is
continuous employment. Yes, there are redundancy costs and one scheme that
some HEIs operate for PT tutors etc is to make a redundancy payment every 2
years. This allows for a series of small payments rather than redundancy
mounting up.
Part-time/"casual" workers now have much more protection from unfair
actions by employers and all HR depts should be aware of their rights and
responsibilities.
ATB
Claire
--On 05 August 2003 14:24 +0100 Bernard Doherty <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> It may be enough to satisfy the HR department in your institution, but
> not the law. Clare's people describe the situation accurately,
> although why anyone should have the task of finding ways of getting
> around offering staff reasonable job security and decent working
> conditions is another matter. There have been comparable arguments put
> forward by the inhuman exploitation team at APU; the counter-argument
> that the chief problem is retaining experienced staff in low-paid but
> demanding and responsible positions has been continually ignored so
> that the competent are always looking out for 'proper jobs'. The
> cost of advertising for, interviewing and training new staff is also
> ignored. This is the result of a business ethic being applied
> by people who can't do sums or draw up a proper balance sheet.
>
> Meanwhile, perhaps the HEIs who actively seek out these routes to
> circumvent the human rights of those working for them might like to
> explain how this fits in with the often expressed desire to be socially
> responsible employers.
>
> Ah, that's better; just felt like sharing.
>
> Regards, Bernard
>
>
> On Tue, 5 Aug 2003 13:22:02 +0100 Geoffrey
> Morris <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Continuous employment is one thing but is usually got around by
> inserting a week or month break between the contracts, i.e one contract
> finishes on 30th June, the next commences on the 1st of August. This
> is usually enough to satisfy the Human Resouces people. > >
> -----Original Message----- > From: Clare Davies
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: 05 August 2003 1:08 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: employing support workers > >
>> How to other HEIs deal with recruitment of support workers such as
> note-takers and study facilitators? > > At UCN we have been emplyoying
> note-takers and study facilitator via payroll, as casual/temporary
> staff, to avoid the problems associated with self-employment or asking
> the student to act as employer. I advertise for such staff on a
> relatively informal basis, and keep details on a register after an
> informal interview, to enable us to respond quickly to requests from
> students for such support. This overcomes the difficulty predicting
> requirements in advance and allows me to appoint individuals quickly,
> as required. > > Students often ask to continue using a support
> worker with whom they have built up a good working relationship, and I
> want to be able to re-appoint people who have developed the required
> skills. This has been particularly important if we have provided
> training, eg note-takers for deaf students. > > However Human
> Resources has now introduced a maxium 12-month time limit for
> temporary/casual staff, to prevent them acquiring employment rights
> such as redundancy pay. Apparently subsequent contracts can count as
> continuous employment, despite breaks in contract during the summer
> vacation. The recruitment process for staff on longer-time contracts,
> takes a minimum of 4 months and it is difficult to obtain senior
> management approval for such appointments. > > I would appreciate
> information about how other disability support services have dealt with
> similar siuations. > > Clare Davies >
>> >
>
> ----------------------
> Bernard Doherty Student Adviser
> ACCESS Centre
> Anglia Polytechnic University
>
> Tel: 01223 363271 x2534
> Fax: 01223 417730
> Minicom: 01223 576155
> [log in to unmask]
>
----------------------
Claire Wickham,
Director: Centre for Access and Communication Studies
University of Bristol
Union Building
Queen's Road
Clifton
Bristol BS8 1LN
Tel: 0117 954 5710/5705
Textphone: 0117 954 5715
Fax: 0117 954 5714
[log in to unmask]
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