Part Time Hours and Holidays

supersaver2

Hi

Hoping somebody can help.

My wife is a part time admin worker in a secondary school. She works term time only, 4 days a week with a Friday off work. The school term dates have been issued for next year and I just wanting clarification on an issue.

The non teaching staff don't work on Inset Days and these are normally done on an evening after school numerous times throughout the year and the 3 additional days they gain are added on to school holidays - hoping this makes sense so far?

Now they have a new Head and the Inset Days have now been changed to Friday's throughout the year. So the October Half Term will now be shorter in length. So a full time non teacher will get the Friday Insets off school paid. This seems unfair to my wife and the other part time Friday workers as they are losing days off as Friday is a day off anyway. A number of staff have Wednesday's off so they will on the specific weeks have a Wednesday and a Friday off

None of the staff have contracts and the schools HR Manager appears to be as clueless as me!

Can anybody advise, if its just one of those things that's fair enough, but she stands to lose 3 days off next year that she had this year.

Any comments appreciated.

Thank you,

YouAsked

supersaver2 wrote: »

Hi

The non teaching staff don't work on Inset Days..
...

Now they have a new Head and the Inset Days have now been changed to Friday's throughout the year. So the October Half Term will now be shorter in length. So a full time non teacher will get the Friday Insets off school paid.

Ok from what you have written I understand that non-teaching staff are not required to come in on inset days.
Your wife doesn't work Fridays.
Inset days are moving to Fridays.
Other non-teaching staff who DO work Fridays will now be off on those Fridays.
You're perceiving this as a disadvantage to your wife as she will get less days off than a non-teaching member of staff who does work Fridays.

I'm not sure that is unfair to your wife, more of a pleasant advantage to others?

I'm not sure I've got this right though as I don't understand why if non-teaching staff aren't required to work on inset days why they get 3 days extra holiday?

What I am interpreting is a "clunky" system and the new head has streamlined it. Always winners and losers when that happens, and I don't think it is intrinsically unfair to be honest. To a degree the lack of contract is a red herring as even if it is new terms and conditions, the choice is the same - either accept the new contract/terms & conditions or don't. And if she doesn't, accept, then she won't have a job.

getmore4less

I would be more concerned they are calculating the holiday pay properly.

supersaver2

A pleasant advantage to the Friday workers and unfair to the non Friday workers?!

Yes I agree, its odd and I'm trying to my head around it with her but struggling! Seems the staff that work Monday's and Friday's are destined to miss out with the Insets and various Bank Holidays. I know in previous places I've worked if your day off fell on a day when the business was shut or fell on a Bank Holiday for whatever reason, the part time worker received an additional day elsewhere. The lack of contract is difficult because I'd imagine it should be clarified in there.

So next year the staff that work Fridays will get 3 additional days off that the part time staff won't benefit from, if that's the way it is that's the way it is.

YouAsked

supersaver2 wrote: »

A pleasant advantage to the Friday workers and unfair to the non Friday workers?! Sorry what I meant by that was even though others seem to be benefitting, it doesn't mean it is manifestly unfair to your wife -

Yes I agree, its odd and I'm trying to my head around it with her but struggling! Seems the staff that work Monday's and Friday's are destined to miss out with the Insets and various Bank Holidays. I know in previous places I've worked if your day off fell on a day when the business was shut or fell on a Bank Holiday for whatever reason, the part time worker received an additional day elsewhere. The lack of contract is difficult because I'd imagine it should be clarified in there. Don't get too hung up on this. As i said, even if there was a written contract which expressly stated how inset days are dealt with, it is very easy for an employer to change contracts

So next year the staff that work Fridays will get 3 additional days off that the part time staff won't benefit from, if that's the way it is that's the way it is.

There's lots of things that don't seem fair when you're part time - some people end up going in for meetings when they're off rota etc, overtime payments only kick in after x number of hours per week etc, but ultimately an employer has to function in the way which is best for them. From what I have interpreted, there are other part time non teaching staff who do work Fridays? So it's not even as though it could be somehow construed as an attack on part time workers. I'm not phrasing this very well, but ultimately "someone has it better than I do" does not necessarily equal "unfair".

pinkshoes

Surely it is not unfair though, as she wasn't paid for this day anyway, so she is not worse off...

It is just a bonus to non teaching staff who work fridays, although they could then be asked to come in if needed.

Can she ask to change her day off next year?

supersaver2

Thanks for the posts! The more I think about it does appear quite complicated, I don't suppose she'll know unless she speaks to payroll.

She's on a set salary and she'll have 3 days less off next year compared to this year, yet she'll still be paid the same, that's the confusing part!

74jax

What three days is she losing?

If I'm right, she gained the extra the days last year by working the extra on evenings?

supersaver2

74jax wrote: »

What three days is she losing?

If I'm right, she gained the extra the days last year by working the extra on evenings?

No the none teaching staff don't stay for the evenings. She's losing 3 days from the October holidays as these were extra days when the school was closed because insets were taken as evenings and not full days. What I can't my head around is the other admin assistant has a Wednesday off, my wife has the Friday off, 3 weeks throughout the year the other assistant will have 2 full days off per week compared to my wife's 1 day, their salary is the same (both on same pay grade and same hours worked).

getmore4less

supersaver2 wrote: »

Hi

Hoping somebody can help.

My wife is a part time admin worker in a secondary school. She works term time only, 4 days a week with a Friday off work. The school term dates have been issued for next year and I just wanting clarification on an issue.

The non teaching staff don't work on Inset Days and these are normally done on an evening after school numerous times throughout the year and the 3 additional days they gain are added on to school holidays - hoping this makes sense so far?
...

loosing me are you saying she gets some term time days off or gets more holiday pay?

KentishLady

Hi

Normally non teaching staff on term time only contracts work x number of weeks per year (e.g. 30 weeks) for their weekly contracted hours and get paid their annual leave on top.

Is this a maintained school, or an academy?

Has your wife spoken to payroll or hr? Hopefully the school have purchased payroll and hr back from the local authority. They should be able to confirm you wife's contractual weeks per year and contracted hours. So long as she is working the contractual hours she is being paid for not sure there is an issue.

KL