Equality issue?

goodlad

Hey guys,

I work for a small company, about 17 employees. They pay for exams for employees and also offer paid study leave to staff.
I am one of 2 IT guys in the company,if either of us IT guys ask for study leave we are told if will come out of our annual leave where as it is not annual leave for all other employees :eek:

Would you guys know if this goes against equality in the work place or anything? Or is it something that just has to be dealt with by the IT guys?

seamus

It doesn't go against equality or anything like that.

If your contract doesn't specify any study leave entitlement then you don't have one.

Professional services firms (accountants, solicitors, etc) usually hire trainee staff with a contract that gives them an exact amount of study leave. It's an enticement to bring in the best staff - "Come train with us and we'll pay you to take time off for study". Fully qualified staff or professional support staff get a contract that doesn't entitle them to any study leave because one would assume that they're already sufficiently trained.

In our place, the trainees get 8 weeks fully paid study leave and we don't get any. Such is the contract that we signed.

Jo King

There might be a gender argument in it if the majority of the other staff are female. As your section is 100% male the company would have to objectively justify treating you differently to the other staff the majority of whom are female. The same would go for other categories under the Equal Status Act. Marital status, race, ethnic origin, disability etc.

seamus

Jo King wrote: »

There might be a gender argument in it if the majority of the other staff are female. As your section is 100% male the company would have to objectively justify treating you differently to the other staff the majority of whom are female. The same would go for other categories under the Equal Status Act. Marital status, race, ethnic origin, disability etc.

You would have to show that *all* of the other staff are female.

spurious

Where I work, I cannot get my employer to fund or give study leave for something that would result in a pay rise for me. I can ask them to fund extra study which they feel might directly benefit the workplace (as long as I won't end up being paid more).

Is there a difference in the type of course/exams being taken by the other employees? Did you all sign the same contract?

MIN2511

Go back and read your contract, where i work it states we are entitled to 40% but not more than €2000 towards education which IMO is bs especially if i choose to do a MBA.
But it's the contract you sign, it's amazing how the tiny print don't matter until you are stuck in a rut.

dudara

It kind sucks if they are offering study leave to some employees and not to others, but it all ultimately depends on the contract that you signed.

I'm fully salaried, in a company where we have lots of people on training contracts, with regular study leave.

I've recently signed up to do a part-time course, paid for by my employer, but I'm getting minimal study leave. Technically, they don't have to give me any.

Appeal to the HR / Training department for some flexibility

goodlad

Thanks for the replys peeps.

No there wouldnt be any gender issue, the company is almost a 50/50 mix of male and female employees.

On a note of the contracts, no it does not state in my contract that i will get paid study leave, but the employees that do get paid study leave also dont have it in their contract but yet they still get it. (a mate is one of the other employees and showed me his contract)

The exams the other employees do are different in that mine would be IT based and the others are accountancy based. But when it comes down to it both are helping the employee be more compotent at their job.

I guess this is just something i will deal with and try find more spare time so study before an exam

nesf

Are they trainee accountants and is the main business in this company accountancy?

goodlad

the main business of the company is accountancy.But the IT part is growing, the 2 of us IT guys support a lot of clients networks.

And yes, they would be trainee accountants.

I could have the wrong line of thinking here but in my mind i see the accountants training to do there job better and i see the IT guys training to do our job better by being able to better support clients networks and our own so i cant see why we would get stiffed on the study leave especially since the company strongly encourage all staff doing training constantly

MIN2511

Now thats odd, if it doesn't state on their contract either then you should have the same advantage that they do. Can you raise it with your line manager?

nesf

Accountancy exams are not really equivalent to IT certification exams. If they've trainee accountants working for them, then part of the "deal" is that they'll work relatively cheaply in exchange for being able to get their exams and get fully qualified. IT isn't as structured and there isn't the same kind of "apprenticeship" system. Accountancy exam leave is also a bit more "established" than IT exam leave, which might be part of it.