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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to think this is discrimination?

109 replies

RexMyDarling · 28/06/2017 02:45

I'm a teacher in a secondary school. I changed jobs in sept to a one year contract that I was assured was just a formality (you'll be perm after that) from a perm job that was a long commute away.

I have crohns so then in January I started to have a flare up and ended up in hospital. In order to never (or unlikely to be) ill again I decided to have an ileostomy - basically my large intestine removed and a stoma put in place so I'd have a bag for the rest of my life. I wasn't forced into it, I could have struggled on but I made the decision to bite the bullet. I knew that once I'd recovered I'd be more healthy and would be able to work more.

Anyway the school has decided not to renew my contract despite the verbal promise (yes I know!!) and I am left unemployed and facing huge financial difficulties if I don't find a job. They are saying that it is because they don't want part time staff any more but we all know it's because I had from January to May off sick.

I can't get them thru the union because whilst it is blatant discrimination they have done it in a way that leaves me with no leg to stand on.

Would I be unreasonable to contact the governors and let them know the situation? Complain to them really... also the leaders of the school federation? I feel like letting every parent/teacher/kid in the school know and maybe even the press (!) but know that would be extreme. I do wonder what it says to the kids - that if you are disabled you don't deserve a chance.

I feel powerless and very angry.

What do you think?

OP posts:
MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/06/2017 12:22

Op, does the job exist in September?

Did they really say they don't want any part time staff?!

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/06/2017 12:23

...and have they taken on someone else to replace your job? Or have they advertised the job you currently do? How is your work being covered from September?

FruitCider · 28/06/2017 12:25

I do sympathise, but I think you've messed up a bit by not waiting to have your operation until after you had signed your permanent contract.

OnionKnight · 28/06/2017 12:25

I just asked her if 5 months off was reasonable and she started laughing and making jokes about public sector employees.

Your colleague (if they exist) is a cunt.

FruitCider · 28/06/2017 12:28

Actually looking at this, unless you were maternity cover they didn't really have justification to make it fixed term in the first place.. give ACAS a call.

m.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4587

Aibu to think this is discrimination?
Dixiechickonhols · 28/06/2017 12:30

I think you've been naive op. It is a risk fixed contracts won't be renewed. As it wasn't emergency surgery it would have been better to delay until permanent staff. Hope you get a new job asap. One way to look at it is you have had a massive benefit being paid 5 months off. Most jobs would not pay sick pay only ssp and certainly not for new starters/fixed contracts. I'd speak to union and then move on focussing energy on new job search. A long term chronic condition is a disability but you cannot prove contract not renewed due to this. You were employed to x date only. I do have sympathy have a chronic condition myself but only get ssp (despite 15 years service) so eg delayed life changing major surgery until i couldn't cope any longer (and could afford x months off unpaid) when permanent your disability related illness should not count against you.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/06/2017 12:41

FruitCider your maternity assertion is incorrect. The op is a teacher in a secondary school. We don't know what she teachers. Sometimes factors like pupil numbers or specific SEND funding can be factors for having someone on a fixed term contract in a school, but not the only reasons.

Teachers are also a unionised workforce and as such they often have terms over and above what is found in other industries.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/06/2017 12:42

She teaches

notanurse2017 · 28/06/2017 12:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FruitCider · 28/06/2017 12:49

She said she is a teacher, rather than a SEN TA. Very different roles I believe.

Groupie123 · 28/06/2017 12:50

My colleague was diagnosed with crohns after she burst her bowel and had sepsis. Was signed off by her GP for 4 weeks for that last year and she had been really sick. The ileostomy this year is permanant.

My colleague isn't a martyr either. So she wasn't coming in in pain etc. I think some people just don't get what it's like working in the private sector. We get OH referrals after 4 weeks where basically a doctor will double-check medical histories etc.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/06/2017 12:52

She said she is a teacher, rather than a SEN TA. Very different roles I believe

Who's mentioned SEN TAs? Confused

Motherbear26 · 28/06/2017 13:24

I've no advice but I just want to wish you well OP. Some of the responses you've received have really highlighted peoples ignorance with regard to chronic illness. I really think this type of thing should be taught in schools and the workplace to prevent such horrid misunderstandings. I'm so sorry you have been through so much and I hope the ileostomy improves your quality of life.

As for your employers, what they have done is blatantly discriminatory but I'm afraid that due to your contract there is nothing you can do about it. The situation is very unfair but you just need to move on with your head held high. I'm sure with your positive attitude you will get another teaching post soon. This sort of thing shouldn't be allowed but unfortunately it is, just don't let this setback affect your future or your recovery. Good luck OP.

FruitCider · 28/06/2017 13:39

Who's mentioned SEN TAs? 

You, you said the funding might be linked to SEN. The only funding pot relating to that which would be used to employ someone specifically on a fixed term contract is for a TA who specialises in SEN. Teaching ratios would not be changed for this.

YoungGirlGrowingOld · 28/06/2017 13:45

As for your employers, what they have done is blatantly discriminatory

Sorry, but how? I just don't see the discrimination angle. Rotten luck for the OP, yes. But it was a fixed term contract that was not renewed after many months of sickness. I would be very surprised if there was any other outcome and frankly the school would be doing a disservice to its pupils if there were.

Non-renewal or termination of employment does not always = discrimination.

I have a friend whose 1 year fixed term contract was terminated after a month when she broke her wrist. Was that discrimination? The whole point of fixed term contracts is that they do not confer the same rights as employment contracts!

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/06/2017 13:47

Sorry FruitCider I did not mention SEN TAs at all. You have misread me or misunderstood and jumped to an incorrect conclusion.

Are you reading on a very small screen? I only ask because you did the same with that ACAS link and it's easily done :)

Motherbear26 · 28/06/2017 14:02

Young, firstly I'm disappointed to hear chronic and debilitating illness described as 'rotten luck'. Secondly, the employers actions are discriminatory because if the OP hadn't been ill, her contract would have been renewed. She had been told as much. I also believe your friend's situation was discriminatory too. If a person's contract is cut short or not renewed due to any illness then it is discrimination. From a legal perspective companies are well within their rights to do this, and I agree the OP's employers acted as most other employers would. But I don't agree that it is right or that it is not discriminatory.

HipsterHunter · 28/06/2017 14:03

My colleague isn't a martyr either. So she wasn't coming in in pain etc. I think some people just don't get what it's like working in the private sector. We get OH referrals after 4 weeks where basically a doctor will double-check medical histories etc.

@Groupie123 so isn't it lucky that she recovered well. That is like saying "well my mum broker her leg and was only in plaster for 6 weeks" to disprove that someone else needed pins and plates and operations and 3 months in plaster... not every medical procedure has the same result.

think some people just don't get what it's like working in the private sector.

I think you just don't actually have any idea of what its like to have serious medical condition.

Anyway, I'm in the private sector and would have dropped onto 70% pay (I buy some additional group income protection thru work) but as long as i was being signed off by the doctor i'd have kept my job,

WannaBe · 28/06/2017 14:16

But we don't know that the OP's contract isn't being renewed due to her illness. Because it was a temporary contract in the first place there was merely a verbal agreement that it would be made permanent after a year. However the school have now stated that they won't be taking on a permanent member of staff and won't be renewing temp contracts due to the fact that they no longer want staff on part time hours. Of course, if it then transpires that the OP's job is advertised she would be at liberty to apply for it and then request feedback as to why she wasn't successful at interview, but given it appears that the OP's job hasn't been advertised and that it simply is a case of the contract not being renewed there is no case for discrimination.

And it was incredibly unwise to start a temporary contract knowing that she had serious surgery coming up. Why not just stick it out in the previous job until the surgery was done and look for another job then? She will have known that the surgery was in the pipeline when she started the temp contract, it makes no sense that someone would put their job, career, and financial future at risk like that given she wouldn't even have been entitled to proper sick pay on a temp contract as opposed to the permanent contract she was on before....

FruitCider · 28/06/2017 14:17

Sometimes factors like pupil numbers or specific SEND funding can be factors for having someone on a fixed term contract in a school, but not the only reasons.

So what other reasons would a fixed term contract for teaching staff be needed if it was tied to SEND funding please?

Babbaganush · 28/06/2017 14:31

I'm sorry that your contract has not been extended BUT you must have considered the risk you were taking in leaving a permanent role for a one year contract? There was never going to be any guarantee that you would be kept on and with school budgets being squeezed the way they are temporary part time contracts are going to be the first to go.
The chair of governors and probably the finance / personnel committee would have approved the staffing structure for September.

spidey66 · 28/06/2017 14:32

It's a different difficult one and only I can see both sides.

Can you persuade the them that that this one extended period of sickness can mean less sickness in the future? I had 3 months off after a hysterectomy a couple of years ago, which was a long period but dramatically reduced my sickness record overall (damn fibroid!)

spidey66 · 28/06/2017 14:34

Sorry about all the errors in my post-damn phone and autocorrect!

Motherbear26 · 28/06/2017 14:51

WannaBe the OP may not have known in advance that she would need surgery. Crohn's disease can be almost dormant with few symptoms for long periods, then flare up. It is almost impossible to predict how you will be a week, a month, or a year in advance. Surgery is usually a last resort, but the OP stated that she took this very difficult decision in order to stabilise her condition so she could be more reliable in her job. I'm not sure many PP would live with an ileostomy bag and all that entails in order to be able to work more. I say that being almost 100% sure that I wouldn't. She took the temp job on good faith and it is utterly wrong that she should lose out as a result of this. It may be legal but it is completely unjust.

WannaBe · 28/06/2017 15:00

Of course she will have known. It was elective surgery not an emergency, so she would likely have waited at least twelve weeks for it when she decided that that was the course of action she (understandably) wanted to take.

She may not have known exactly when the surgery will have happened but she would have known that it was on the cards. That's not a criticism fwiw, but just that changing jobs to a temporary contract at a time when the OP knew that she likely was going to be faced with surgery in the near future was likely not a well thought out suggestion.

There is of course another possibility, i.e. That her previous employer gave a reference based on her previous sickness record and that she was only offered a temporary contracte based on this knowledge to see whether her sickness record was that bad which of course in this instance it proved to be. But she would still need to prove it which would probably be impossible.