Which would You Try to Make a Claim For If any?

Nicki

I'm a governor of a school which sadly has just had to start the redundancy process to lose some members of staff. We don't want to but the reduction in this year's school budget is so much that we literally do not have enough money to cover all the current salaries. We aren't yet at the point of selecting who stays and who goes, but we already know that we don't want to lose a single member of staff, and will be sad about whoever goes.

In your case, some people had to go and sadly you were one. I am sure that you are very very upset about this, but equally I very much doubt that there was any personal bias here. It is simply the case that some of the other staff competing for your job had more, or more up to date, skills. The school might also have had at the back of their mind that if you and the other older members of staff went, you would qualify for early retirement if you wanted it, whereas other members of staff wouldn't?

You are not too late to claim for your injury despite what your husband said. If you did claim for this, the school would probably be insured and you would get a quick and easy pay out. If you claim for age discrimination, this could be a long drawn out affair and could impact on your former colleagues and the pupils at the school, as the money to pay legal fees and any compensation needs to be found from somewhere and the only viable places in a school budget is either staffing costs (so someone else loses some or all of their hours) or the curriculum budget.

If you must claim for something, then claim for the personal injury. But personally I would not claim for either, and just give myself time to grieve and to heal for the stressful time that the whole redundancy process must have been.

tesuhoha

Fang wrote: »

You were told to make a claim, and you didn't. Get over it. You were made redundant because others are better equipped and have more skills than you. Get over it.

You want to make a claim for revenge for crying out loud. Good god.

I didn't expect all these aggressive and hostile replies. I was only told last week to make the claim so its not too late. I came on here asking for advice expecting a friendly response. Don't think I'll bother in the future.

I work in a school. There are only two people in the school who know how to manage the teacher cover system and one of them is me. I was the relief person. My colleague is paid £10,000 a year more than me to do this job. Last year for two and a half weeks I singlehandedly kept the school going when my colleague and a great many teachers were stranded abroad. I had to bring in supply teachers, make sure they were paid, supervise them etc.

I am one of two people who knows how to do timetabling. Last year I singlehandedly timetabled the whole 6th Form, as each has an individual timetable. 115 timetables in two and a half days. You cannot imagine how difficult and complicated that is.

I am one of two people who knows the exclusion system. The school employed a person to do this job. When she went off long term sick I took on her work without any increase in hours or overtime.

I applied for a job a grade below the one I am on because they told me my job was gone.

On the skills audit form I was scored zero out of one for organisation and zero out of one for working under pressure. I wonder why that was when my line manager wrote that i was more than able to do the job.

I am the only person who knew shorthand in the school. I used to minute meetings, child protection etc.

A huge number of teachers in the school have been made redundant. One of them was the only teacher who was graded outstanding in the Ofsted inspection. What do they have in common? Aged over 55.

Therefore your highlighted words make me feel sick.

tesuhoha

Nicki wrote: »

I'm a governor of a school which sadly has just had to start the redundancy process to lose some members of staff. We don't want to but the reduction in this year's school budget is so much that we literally do not have enough money to cover all the current salaries. We aren't yet at the point of selecting who stays and who goes, but we already know that we don't want to lose a single member of staff, and will be sad about whoever goes.

In your case, some people had to go and sadly you were one. I am sure that you are very very upset about this, but equally I very much doubt that there was any personal bias here. It is simply the case that some of the other staff competing for your job had more, or more up to date, skills. The school might also have had at the back of their mind that if you and the other older members of staff went, you would qualify for early retirement if you wanted it, whereas other members of staff wouldn't?

You are not too late to claim for your injury despite what your husband said. If you did claim for this, the school would probably be insured and you would get a quick and easy pay out. If you claim for age discrimination, this could be a long drawn out affair and could impact on your former colleagues and the pupils at the school, as the money to pay legal fees and any compensation needs to be found from somewhere and the only viable places in a school budget is either staffing costs (so someone else loses some or all of their hours) or the curriculum budget.

If you must claim for something, then claim for the personal injury. But personally I would not claim for either, and just give myself time to grieve and to heal for the stressful time that the whole redundancy process must have been.

It is simply not true about them having more up to date skills than me. I had to train people to do my job before I left and I was shocked at their lack of knowledge compared to me regarding the school management system. I was very highly regarded by the other staff and they said that if I was redundant then no-one's job was safe. Just because I am 60 does not mean that I do not have up to date skills. I am as competent on the computer as anyone else and have ICT qualifications. I feel as if I am being age discrimated on here.

It may be true that older staff can apply for early retirement but surely this is age discrimination in itself?

This is what the bursar said to me last week 'I really don't know why you don't make a claim for your wrist. The amount of money we pay out on claims and know that people have made things up.'

There are about half a dozen claims going on at the moment by teachers who have been treated unfairly.

Anyway, what happened was that they told me that my job was gone and in the week before I left they told someone else they had a new job title, with a lesser salary and a new job description. I had to train this person because it was basically my job. This job was not advertised at all; she was just told she had to do it. She was never told that her previous job was at risk. She is feeling very upset and guilty although I was nothing but nice to her and also she thinks that it is constructive dismissal as fair as she is concerned and thinks it is illegal. It is not just me.

peachyprice

tesuhoha wrote: »

This is what the bursar said to me last week 'I really don't know why you don't make a claim for your wrist. The amount of money we pay out on claims and know that people have made things up.'

There are about half a dozen claims going on at the moment by teachers who have been treated unfairly.

Perhaps if this issue were addressed properly the school wouldn't have had to make you redundant.

The money for increasing insurance premiums due to a high level of claims has to come from somewhere and if they are paying out for claims they know are made up perhaps it's is the bursar you should be directing your anger at.

euronorris

tesuhoha wrote: »

Yes, it was recorded by the first aider. As its a school a report was also sent to the local authority.

How are you feeling now? Is it improving, or still very bad? Don't be afraid to go back to A&E and ask them to X-Ray again if you feel it necessary.

My friend broke her foot, thanks to a pothole, and 2 different A&E departments missed it at first! And she was working as a nurse at one of those A&E's at the time!

Sometimes, the breaks can be hard to see because of their location, or the doctor who examined it may have just had a bad day and missed it.

tesuhoha

peachyprice wrote: »

Perhaps if this issue were addressed properly the school wouldn't have had to make you redundant.

The money for increasing insurance premiums due to a high level of claims has to come from somewhere and if they are paying out for claims they know are made up perhaps it's is the bursar you should be directing your anger at.

I could accept the redundancy but it is the way it has been done. I and everyone else who knows me cannot believe the way I was scored on the audit skills form. Everyone was saying to me how unfair it all was and people have actually said that I know more than anyone.

If they had told me that my job had gone and I was being made redundant then I would have been alright about it. However, as explained in the last post my job was given to someone else and I had to train her.

Everyone is having a go at me here but to be honest if you were treated unfairly and underscored on something like this would you really all take it with good grace. Just because I am the age I am does not mean I am senile and does not mean that I do not have the skills for the job as some of you are implying.

I cannot prove to you that it was unfair obviously, but I am telling you that it was.

tesuhoha

euronorris wrote: »

How are you feeling now? Is it improving, or still very bad? Don't be afraid to go back to A&E and ask them to X-Ray again if you feel it necessary.

My friend broke her foot, thanks to a pothole, and 2 different A&E departments missed it at first! And she was working as a nurse at one of those A&E's at the time!

Sometimes, the breaks can be hard to see because of their location, or the doctor who examined it may have just had a bad day and missed it.

I have an appointment with the doctor on Friday because it was a few weeks ago and I have a big lump on my wrist. Any kind of cooking/cleaning hurts me at the base of the wrist and shooting pains go up my arm.

Thank you for asking.

tesuhoha

As it is I am trying to make the best of things. I am lucky enough to have a pension lump sum coming to me so I can pay off the mortgage. I am thankful for that. However, its hard to accept the unfairness of how I was treated and I don't see why I should.

euronorris

tesuhoha wrote: »

I am one of two people who knows the exclusion system. The school employed a person to do this job. When she went off long term sick I took on her work without any increase in hours or overtime.

The above actually suggests that you didn't have enough work, originally, to keep you busy for the hours you work.

Was that the case? Did the school not provide you with enough work to fill your time? If so, they may have viewed that as terribly inefficient and a place where a cut could be made?

Or, do you mean that you worked additional hours, but didn't claim any extra pay for them?

Nicki

tesuhoha wrote: »

Everyone is having a go at me here but to be honest if you were treated unfairly and underscored on something like this would you really all take it with good grace.

I think you are being too sensitive. Fang was unpleasant but he always is, it's nothing personal and no one on MSE reads his posts believing they will find anything of use to anyone . Heretolearn just misunderstood your first post. The rest of us, me included, aren't intending to have a go, and are sympathetic to your predicament but just saying what we would do in your case.

As others have said maybe try posting this over on the employment board if you haven't already. There are some knowledgeable people there (and also some idiots sadly, so take your thickest skin over with you!)