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Contract work

  • 12-03-2012 10:17pm
    #1
    janullrich
    Closed Accounts Posts: 409 ✭✭


    I am doing contract work at the moment for a number of months. However I had a run in with a senior manager over a letter which was sent which she thinks was wrong and could get the bank in trouble. I defended myself but she demoted me. When I asked why she advised that she did not have to give an explaination. I contacted the agency (which turned out to be a waste of time)but they advised that the bank have the right to do this and they will contact them to see if they want to keep me on. Now I could be out on my ear. Do agency/contract staff have any rights at all?


Comments

  • #2
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,292 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    If you're there less than 12 months, then no one - staff or agency workers - have any rights (beyond minimum wage, working hours and health&safety).


  • #3
    Clauric
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 610 ✭✭✭Clauric


    JustMary wrote: »
    If you're there less than 12 months, then no one - staff or agency workers - have any rights (beyond minimum wage, working hours and health&safety).

    Not true.

    Demotion is a disciplinary penalty. As such, any employee (contract or otherwise) is entitled to a fair hearing of the particular grievances are discussed. They also must follow a written set of guidelines, which the employer must make accessable to the employee. Further, if any form of penalty is being applied e.g. demotion, there employer must give a written explanation as to the reasons for the penalty being applied, and for how long it is being applied. The employee must also be allowed to appeal the decision, if appropriate, to an independent person.

    If it is as the OP says, then every bank in Ireland has a dedicated HR team. Contact them, with a view to getting the disciplinary manuals (they must be given to you, or be in a place that is easy to access, normally intranet). Read them carefully, and then make a complaint to HR regarding the manner and methods of your demotion.


  • #4
    Irish_Elect_Eng
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,260 ✭✭✭Irish_Elect_Eng


    Be careful.

    While almost everything that Clauric says is true, the reality of the situation needs to be looked at too.

    On discovering the issue, your boss could just have quietly terminated your contract without reason within the first 12 months. The fact that they did not probably speaks to the fact that you were doing a reasonable job otherwise.

    I would engage with my boss first to see if you can recover the situation by working 1:1, invoking the disciplinary process should be a last port of call as it would probably ensure non-renewal of your contract or at least sour the relationship badly.


  • #5
    janullrich
    Closed Accounts Posts: 409 ✭✭janullrich


    Thanks. I was doing a very reasonable job and the team leader gave me my results yesterday but however I made the point of calling the agency (as they employed me) and advising them of the situation. They advised me that managers can fire non-bank agency staff just like that and for whatever reason. They advised me that when the manager found out that I had gone to them with my greivance, she advised them that if he isn't happy with the meeting on Fri a/noon he can leave and she was not talking to me about it. I also checked my contract with the agency and there is nothing re greivances. If I had kept my mouth shut and just got on with my work, I would be probably be on tenderhooks all the time but still have a job today. Its like damned if you do and damned if you don't. People wonder why this bank is in so much trouble. Now I know from being inside.


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