Education support for permanent employees only?

lightspeed

Hi in my job, there is educational support for permanent employees.

From what i recall from a company meeting for all staff, this consists of a 10% discount for employees taking up studies with Dublin Business School.

Im am currently on a 12 month fixed term contract which has been renewed each year for the past 3 years.

When i queried about the educational support, I was told that it was only available to permanent employees.

However, from reading the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, this seems to be in violation of the law.

"6.

—(1) Subject to

subsections (2)

and

(5)

, a fixed-term employee shall not, in respect of his or her conditions of employment, be treated in a less favourable manner than a comparable permanent employee.

(2) If treating a fixed-term employee, in respect of a particular condition of employment, in a less favourable manner than a comparable permanent employee can be justified on objective grounds then that employee may, notwithstanding

subsection (1)

, be so treated.

7.

—(1) A ground shall not be regarded as an objective ground for the purposes of any provision of this Part unless it is based on considerations other than the status of the employee concerned as a fixed-term employee and the less favourable treatment which it involves for that employee (which treatment may include the renewal of a fixed-term employee's contract for a further fixed term) is for the purpose of achieving a legitimate objective of the employer and such treatment is appropriate and necessary for that purpose".

I intend to take the matters further and i think i will contact citizens advice and NERA to seek advise but Im just curious if im correct in my assumptions that this is a violation of employment law?

davo10

OP a lot of businesses are now using yearly fixed term contracts instead of "full time" employment contracts.

In your situation there are two very important points to consider. Firstly, the maximum time a company can employ you in fixed term contracts continuously without making you a full time employee is four years, Therefore, soon you will be full time.

Secondly and in my opinion far more importantly in the situation you describe, the benefit to the employer of a fixed term contract is that the term of employment is limited and the Unfair Dismissals Act does not apply. At the end of this current contract, even though you are there over three years, your employer is within their rights to not renew the contract and you would be out of a job.

It is exactly for situations like yours that fixed term contracts are becoming more popular. The employer can let the employee go without reason or redundancy at the end of the contract, they would have employed you exactly for the duration laid out in the terms of the contract and this is now determined.

So consider your actions carefully and don't shoot yourself in the foot by shouting about rights only to find yourself job hunting when your current contract has run its course.

lightspeed

Thanks Davo

I agree with the points you make. However, the reason i feel more secure as im of the understanding that the protection of fixed term workers act and the unfair dismissal act mean that they cannot refuse to renew a contract to avoid giving me a permanent contract nor can they refuse to renew or give me a permanent contract on the basis that i have filed a complaint.

So if there have not been any issues with my work highlighted and they renew other peoples fixed term contracts, then how could they get away with not renewing my contract and give me a permanent contract as it will have been four years since i joined the company?

Its more on principle that i want to highlight the issue and force them to take notice. The management is so arrogant that there have been several incidents of favouritism and corruption from managers in areas of how tasks are assigned and recruitment. They even paid a company to do a survey to find why so many employees have left the company.

davo10

The unfair dismissals act does not apply at the end of the contracted period, they can say bye bye as the contract term will have expired.

OP, your interpretation may be correct but it is very risky. You are a fixed term employee and like it or not they can argue that after determination, they are not required to renew unless it exceeds four years. If company policy states that the allowance is open to full time employees and you are a fixed term contractor providing a service of defined duration, then the allowance may not be open to you until you are in fact full time.

You may feel you are on solid ground but do not be surprised if the outcome is not quite as positive as you expect.

lightspeed

davo10 wrote: »

The unfair dismissals act does not apply at the end of the contracted period, they can say bye bye as the contract term will have expired.

OP, your interpretation may be correct but it is very risky. You are a fixed term employee and like it or not they can argue that after determination, they are not required to renew unless it exceeds four years. If company policy states that the allowance is open to full time employees and you are a fixed term contractor providing a service of defined duration, then the allowance may not be open to you until you are in fact full time.

You may feel you are on solid ground but do not be surprised if the outcome is not quite as positive as you expect.

Well, I already am a full time employee and how could they say that such an allowance is not open until i am a permanent employee as the only reason its not available to me now is because I'm a fixed term worker and that is in violation of the Protection of fixed term workers Act?

Also as when my current fixed term contract expires, it will be in excess of 4 years so i feel im in a pretty air tight position.

So if they say they are not in a position to offer me a permanent contract, I will go through the appropiate channels and file legal proceedings against the company forcing them to provide answers as to why they renewed the other fixed term contracts and refused to give me a permanent contract. I will also communicate the issue through email so there is a record of the issue being raised. They will also need to demonstrate that me raising the issue had no bearing on the decision not to offer me a permanent contract.

Do you reckon my analysis is correct?

davo10

lightspeed wrote: »

Well, I already am a full time employee and how could they say that such an allowance is not open until i am a permanent employee as the only reason its not available to me now is because I'm a fixed term worker and that is in violation of the Protection of fixed term workers Act?

Also as when my current fixed term contract expires, it will be in excess of 4 years so i feel im in a pretty air tight position.

So if they say they are not in a position to offer me a permanent contract, I will go through the appropiate channels and file legal proceedings against the company forcing them to provide answers as to why they renewed the other fixed term contracts and refused to give me a permanent contract. I will also communicate the issue through email so there is a record of the issue being raised. They will also need to demonstrate that me raising the issue had no bearing on the decision not to offer me a permanent contract.

Do you reckon my analysis is correct?

No. You are not a full time employee, you are an employee employed for a fixed time period only, as per the contract you signed.

You have a contract which says you are providing a service for a certain term rather than on a permanent long term basis. As such they do not have to renew when the term ends. Again unfair dismissals act does not apply at the end of the contract. They only ihave to offer you a permanent contract if they want you to stay after the 4 years of fixed term contracts, But they can also say they are not renewing your contract at all.

Does your contract say you are entitled to the allowance?, this sounds like a perk and not a core right of employment such as wages, annual leave, term etc.

Your contract will have a clause such as " This agreement comprises a fixed term contract and the Unfair Dismissals Acts do not apply to the dismissal of the employee consisting only of the expiry of the fixed term"

OP again, it is situations like this which makes these types of contracts popular, business' owners do not know what the future holds nor if an employee is going to have issues so by having fixed term contracts it allows them to terminate at the end of term. By all means raise a grievance but this is not about your pay or conditions of work or bullying etc, its about a perk, I don't want to be cynical but you will be sweating when the term of your current contract is up, would any of us renew the contract of an unhappy worker who is complaining, if we didn't have too?

lightspeed

http://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/publications/providers/downloads/employment_rights_10.pdf

Im not sure if what you are saying is consistent with the information outlined above on the citizens information board.

Near the bottom it states:

"An employer is prohibited from victimising a fixed-term employee
who seeks to avail of rights under the Protection of Employees
(Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. Victimisation includes dismissal in
order to avoid a fixed-term contract being considered an openended
contract".

Ive browsed through the act itself and it states the following:

"13.—(1) An employer shall not penalise an employee—

(a) for invoking any right of the employee to be treated, in respect of the employee's conditions of employment, in the manner provided for by this Part,
(b) for having in good faith opposed by lawful means an act which is unlawful under this Act,
(c) for giving in any proceeding under this Act or for giving notice of his or her intention to do so or to do any other thing referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), or d) by dismissing the employee from his or her employment if the dismissal is wholly or partly for or connected with the purpose of the avoidance of a fixed-term contract being deemed to be a contract of indefinite duration under section 9 (3).

(2) For the purposes of this section, an employee is penalised if he or she—

(a) is dismissed or suffers any unfavourable change in his or her conditions of employment or any unfair treatment (including selection for redundancy), or (b) is the subject of any other action prejudicial to his or her employment".

it also states the following on citizens information:

"If an employer intends to renew a fixed-term contract, they must give
the fixed-term employee a written statement stating the objective
grounds justifying the renewal and the failure to offer an open-ended
contract. The fixed-term employee must receive this statement on or
before the renewal date".

I have never received any statement each year advising as to why i was not given an open-ended contract?

I understand that if the contract is of a fixed term, they should normally reserve the choice not to renew the contract if they do not wish to.

However, as most employees contracts are set to renew at that time, they will also need to provide the reasons why my contract was not renewed and that it was for reasons other that the fact that i was due to get a permanent contract or raised issues with the rights commissioner.

Otherwise how are they not in violation of the protection of fixed term worker act?

Where in the act does it distinguish from an allowance or a perk?

Citizens information board also states the following:

"As far as is practicable, an employer should support a fixed-term employee to access training to
enhance skills, career development and job mobility".