Employment duties in Contract

Hi, I am in a somewhat strange situation where I have well defined duties in my contract, with the primary one being teaching and also expected to engage in research and admin. Up to about four years ago I used to teach regularly but then the powers that be stopped people with my title (research based) from teaching despite it being the primary duty of my contract. I have repeatedly offered to teach courses in addition to my other work but am simply not allowed anymore. Now one might say this is great and I have free time but since I am employed to do this I think I should be doing it, and moreover if I ever hope to progress my career it is critical that I teach and this is what I signed up to in my eight or so contracts to date. Aside from this I enjoy it.

My question is does anyone know what the legal stance is here. From HR responses, it would appear that I have a case as they seem intent on arguing that this is not the duty within my contract although it is written in black and white. Can I bring a case against the college for unfair treatment, bullying (i.e. being single out for not allowing me to teach when other with exactly the same duty are not). If so I would welcome any advice on what the legal act that such a case may be taken is.

I don't understand this. Are you missing a qualification that you need to teach?

No, I have all the qualifications that are needed, as I said above I used to teach. I am not being allowed and the argument goes that as a researcher I should only be doing research, even though my contract clearly states teaching as primary duty.

If this was a Union issue about job demarcation I would b throwing my hands in the air in exasperation, but the fact that it is imposed from the top down seems nonsensical.

Assuming you haven't changed locale I don't understand how an administration that used to allow you to teach is now preventing you from doing so.

On a job satisfaction/motivation/human resources basis it seems stupid.

However I also cannot resolve the fact that your title is "research based" and yet you say your primary duty is teaching.

I know teachers in both polytechnics and in universities.

Competent people in each organizations are required both to teach and also conduct research - the main difference being according to the poly teachers that they have more teaching hours rostered than allows them time to both prepare for classes and research as well, while the university counterparts seem to have a lot less teaching time and a lot more research time.

Thanks,
I guess I can see where a union might try and install "job demarcation", but again this would be done upon issuing of a contract where the expressed duties would be modified or teach would not be included.

As I understand employment law, contract title has little (nothing) to do with your rights, it is the duties that are assigned within the contract that are relevant.

I have little doubt that any independent person (judge) would just look at my contract and say teaching is a clearly defined duty so you must no treat him any less fairly than anyone else who has the same duties in their contract irrespective of title. Therefore they do not have to assign teaching to me, but they cannot directly say I am not assigning you teaching because we simply don't want to.

The main question is what legislation/act can a case be taken under. Any suggestions welcome.

I used to be an academic in a previous life so I am going to make some assumptions and please let me know if they are incorrect.
I am assuming that you are on a research contract and that you are looking for a lectureship hence the need to get experience in teaching?
I think that looking to the law for this issue is not a very good idea. Read your contract carefully. I am sure there is a clause that says that duties are assigned as needed by the department. So if they don't want to assign teaching to you, they cannot really be made to do so.

What is your desired outcome? Once you take an employment case, especially for something like this which is not at all clear cut you run the risk of losing but also of burning your bridges.

If you want more teaching work, I would suggest you put your efforts into moving to a teaching post, possibly in a different institution if the current one does not have teaching work for you. But going to the law with this does not strike me as a sensible idea.

I am on a permanent research contract and I do not have any desire to take up a teaching post. In fact the duties of my current post are exactly those of a teaching post.

In terms of contract duties, every employment contract ever written will have such statements but they will also have specific ones, and as I said above they cannot make the college assign lecturing but they can make it so I am not singled out for this negative treatment.

In terms of burning bridges, too late to think about that now. I have already been twice and won, this one seems clearest of them all.

In terms of moving, this is what many HR/Management dept. rely on, that the person will not fight for there rights. Only when one does do they take such issues seriously. Anyhow I like where I work, and I am happy with the original job/contract/salary just these new unfounded rules.

Are other people with the same terms and conditions/title still being given these teaching duties? You said in the first post "the powers that be stopped people with my title (research based) from teaching". If this is the case then you're not being singled out.

In my view you have a grievance and that is the road I would down first. I'm assuming that there is a formal grievance process in your work place.

okay, by singled out I meant one sector with same duties is being single out.

In terms of grievance of course this is first and has been done, although I expect I will have to do it again cause I may have missed a link along the way. Again done this before, absolute procedure to waste time and nothing else.

So you are in a permanent research post, you don't want to move to a teaching post and you want to stay in the same institution.

Given that you are a researcher, no court in the land will get your employer to assign teaching duties to you via a court case - the employer can reassign duties as needed so if they decided that researchers should primarily research, then that is acceptable. In the same way that it is acceptable to assign more or less teaching hours according to need.

Have a look at the labour court website and the courts website for cases and then assess your chances. I would put them at about zero. I don't want to be unkind but your efforts can be spent much better in improving your qualifications and experience and furthering your career rather than taking a case that has no chance of success.

toolbox said:

In terms of burning bridges, too late to think about that now. I have already been twice and won, this one seems clearest of them all.

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The only thing clear is that you've taken cases before and won.
Your motivations, which others have speculated upon, seem unclear.

Your intention in seeking teaching work seems at odd with the desires of any other teacher I have met, vocation notwithstanding.
Most relish the thought of reduced teaching hours to allow them carry out the necessary research to continue their CPD and accreditation process.

I echo the comments of Diziet.

My own professional situation has echoes of your present position and I looked long and hard at preparing a High Court action to move obstacles out of my way.
I found that such a strategy would ultimately prove very costly in terms of time, money and lowering the professional standing of my profession through internal wrangling.

Diziet's advice to you is not unlike the course I have steered since, one which I have found to be very rewarding thus far in terms of personal development and qualifications.
This may not suit you, and you have every right to stand up for what you believe it right, but you can get stuck in a litigious rut as opposed to moving past the current impediment in other ways.

If you keep on the route you suggest, litigation, then notwithstanding the protection afforded to you by European and Irish Employment Law, you may end up becoming someone people would prefer not to employ.

"no court in the land will get your employer to assign teaching duties to you via a court case", if this was true then no employment contract is worth the paper is it written on. My duties are absolutly clear in my contract. As I said above I know a court may not be able to force the my employer to assign me teaching duties but they will be able to force them to provide real (legally valid) reasons as to why they are not doing so at present, and if appropriate teaching comes up in the future then I will have to be first in line for it. In terms of research, that is a duty of all academics hired within the past ten years or so. Although quite sad, I do agree with onq that such standing up for ones rights will cause problems in the future. My advice although only from union rep. and one legal person is that such a case is rock solid.

should have added in above statement, that rock solid was used in the context of "if you can find an act to bring it under".