Am I entitled to a new contract?

eric_bloodaxe_2

Hi

I have worked at a council-owned local theatre as a sound/light technician for just over 6 years. I am on a 'casual' contract with no guaranteed hours of work, although I have been continuously given work throughout my time there.

For at least the last two to three years up until this year, I have been given the equivalent of full-time work. My hours averaged out to just over 37 hours per week, but some weeks I worked as much as 50 hours and some weeks I only worked around 20 hours. Since the start of this year my hours have been cut back to around 20 hours a week and I can see them getting cut back even further.

My question is since I have continuously been given a certain amount of work over a long perioid of time, am I entitled to a change of contract so that I have a guaranteed amount of work each week? Does being in a council-run venue make a difference?

I love my job, but the worst part of it is the fact that I do not know more than a few weeks in advance how much work I am going to get. Also, since the start of this year my hours have been decreasing, and I can see them decreasing to a point where I will have to get another job, or leave and work somewhere else. So I will effectively be forced out of my job through no fault of my own.

Thanks

LittleVoice

Initial thoughts:

That the theatre is run and owned by a local council doesn't make a difference.

Were you classified as self-employed or were you on the PAYE pay-roll? If self-employed then you don't have an employment contract to negotiate on.

If you were in fact basically continuously employed for two or three years, then I think they can't rely on your being on a "casual" contract. It ceased to be casual years ago. However, if there is actually a reduced requirement for the type of work you do, then it looks like redundancy.

Are you a member of a trades union? Do you have a household insurance policy? A TU rep could help or your insurance policy may well include an employment legal advice line. (Look out for the advice line number, however, as it may be at a premium rate.)

ACAS or the CAB may be another port of call. If you have a local CAB try to get there in person. You may find their phone help line is also a non-geographical one.

eric_bloodaxe_2

That the theatre is run and owned by a local council doesn't make a difference.

The only reason I thought it might is because as I understand it, councils are trying to get people off so-called "zero-hour" casual contracts. There have been suggestions at work that the council were going to offer people contracted hours based on 3 months work. This has not happened yet and it may not happen at all. My worry is that they will look at a period where I am not getting much work and would offer me a contract based on that rather than the several years of full-time work.

I am employed by the council, not self-employed. There are two other casual employees as well. One has been here for 4 years, the other for just under 2 years. I do not know how many hours they have been getting over the last few years, but I do know its less than me.

I do not think that there is a reduced requirement for the type of work I do, but there have been some changes to the staffing over the last few years. The staff structure now is as follows :

Technical officer - In charge of everything backstage.
Senior house technician
Assistant house technician
Casual technicians - Me!!

Up until just before Christmas the senior house tech. had not been filled. The assistant house tech post was filled early last year. The Technical officer post was filled almost two years ago. Despite these changes to the staffing structure, I was getting regular full time work up until now. My understanding of the situation is that the only reason that the casuals hours are being cut back is because of a cash shortage. To put it bluntly though, thats not my fault and I should not be penalised for it.

LittleVoice

When I wrote that whether the council owned and ran the centre made no difference, I was thinking of its legal obligations and not whether there is a policy about casual hours working.

I believe there is also a difference between "zero hours" contracts and truly "casual" ones. Perhaps you should check out what you have so you can present this to piece of information to get advice from another source.

Your original post said that the change in the number of hours you worked dated from "this year" which I took to be January. As you are now saying there wasn't a cut back until "now", did you mean April, the new accounting year? If it was January that rather fits with the appointment of the Senior House Technician just before Christmas. I should think that settling in and maybe extra work for Christmas shows would account for a slight delay before the effect on your hours came through.

I'm afraid that it looks as though they now have more technical staff and that it doesn't necessarily relate to cash shortages, though that clearly would be an impetus for the council to act to reduce its costs in this area.

Were you able to apply for the posts that have been filled during your time working there? If you did not apply, that suggests you were not interested in taking on permanent full-time work. Perhaps you are, in your words, "being penalised" for not applying for the other positions (eg Assistant House Technician) at the time.

eric_bloodaxe_2

I did apply for the two house technician posts, though obviously I did not get either job. I was told that I was the second choice for both posts. I don't know if this is actually true or if it was just something to say soften the blow of being rejected, but the fact remains I was not chosen for either post.

I'm afraid that it looks as though they now have more technical staff and that it doesn't necessarily relate to cash shortages, though that clearly would be an impetus for the council to act to reduce its costs in this area.

While it is true that there are now more technical staff, I still believe that it is not fair that through no fault of my own I am effectively being pushed out of a job I love doing. Although I strongly doubt it is deliberate, whenever I try to discuss it with my line manager he does not seem to be too concerned and he has said that he will not do anything about it and that I should just accept it. The funny thing is that both house technicians have produced figures to show that taking on one more full time technician will actually save the theatre money, but both the technical manager and the venues manager have said that it will never happen!

I think that the best course of action for me is to speak to the CAB. Before I do that though I'll talk to the other two casuals to see how they feel. I know neither of them like their hours being cut back, and I think that we will have a stronger case if we act as a group.

LittleVoice

Good luck with the CAB. Do take your contract documents with you or have them in front of you if you phone.