AIBU to expect some kind of severance pay ?

[chicitina]

So my fixed term contract is not being renewed I will have worked at the school for two years in July. The head called a meeting with me face to face and told me "there is no job for you in September". A little background, joined the school as an NQT, was off for three months maternity last summer, I was having some difficulties in my first term, however I have now sucessfully passed my NQT year. I suspect head did not want me to continue due to the earlier issues I had. I started with a few others who all had their contracts changed to permanent whilst I was on leave. Am I entitled to claim anything ? I don't believe the dismissal is fair, also the person hired to cover me for maternity has been offered a permanent role.

Thanks Titty

It does seem to have been done to death already

Wow at all the terrible advice on here! MN is really bad for questions like this!!

MN is really bad for all sorts of factual questions. Anything to do with money or travel is a classic example. I wouldn't rely on anything posted on here and never understand why people don't google or use official websites.

People post all sorts of shite and others agree with them. Usually anyone who posts correct advice is ignored or argued against.

Having checked the earlier thread, August 2016 to July 2018 isn’t 2 years. So there’s no legal entitlement to severance here.

And, OP, you’re really bad at putting the relevant information into your posts which makes it really difficult to advise. Lots of hurt feelings, I get that, but the law primarily deals with facts, not feelings.

Think of not as a quadratic equation. You can’t answer it without information!

I wouldn't put your energy into fighting this. Save it for job hunting. It was fixed term and they aren't obliged to extend it.

If this is real then..

You qualified and got a fixed term job. You struggled with your job initially. You then went on maternity leave. You haven't done 2 full years. Your contract has not been renewed.

I can see why there isn't a place for you next term.

With your short and shaky CV I wouldn't add 'sued my employer' to the list.

I can see why you are hurt if others that you started work with have been moved onto permanent contracts, but unfortunately you won't be entitled to any severance pay as you haven't been 'dismissed'. You were hired on a 2 year fixed-term basis, and that period has now ended, and they are under no obligation to extend your contract or offer you severance pay. Surely you must have realised when you took the post that it wasn't the same as a permanent position and that after 2 years your contract with them would have finished? I can see that you were probably hoping your contract would be extended / offered a permanent role, but it was risky to assume for definite that would happen.

Contact www.pregnantthenscrewed.com - they will be able to advise if there is a discrimination case

You contract will not end until the 31st of August 2018 not July. You are still employed until the beginning of the new term...something to bear in mind if you are exploring the legalities of it.

Assuming England, I don't see how there is a discrimination case, because OP has continued in her role after returning from maternity leave. She would therefore have no right to have been offered other posts as a priority, because this did not occur during maternity leave. That the person who was her maternity cover has found a second position in the school is neither here nor there.

Unqualified teacher on the guts of 40k from her other thread? I’m in the wrong profession.

Op said she has other duties. I doubt these are managerial with the rest of what we know so I suspect they may be such things as some kind of after school care of boarders or late stay children. This would also explain why she wasn't paid for this on mat leave.

I work in a sector where fixed term contracts are common (normally about a year). I've had the experience where my contract is coming to an end but the project has been extended. I was asked to continue in a probationary period. I think this was because it offered my organisation more flexibility. Also I think that the ceo of the charity had a bit of a dislike for me. Despite hitting the project targets ect. This was really hard at the time.

Probably a bit like how you feel with your situation as you mentioned the head possibly didn't want you to continue. I know it feels really unfair and I know if effected my confidence. However I chose to resign and just leave the issue. As I felt I'd lost trust in the organisation and respect for the people at the top. Unfortunately I think employment law isn't particularly in favour of the employee despite what people might say. I think the effort of pursuing any compensation is much better spent moving on.

If at the time of dismissal you've had 2 years continuous service you will be entitled to redundancy if the criteria for redundancy apply. If they don't you can bring an unfair dismissal claim. But only if you've had more than 2 years service.

Sept 1 to Aug 31 is normal for school contracts so I guess she will come in at a day under 2 years.

If at the time of dismissal you've had 2 years continuous service you will be entitled to redundancy if the criteria for redundancy apply.

I think the problem here is that the OP hasn't been dismissed.

Oh ignore me;

Are you in the uk ? You've had lots of advice but you should speak to someone legal abou this.

I don’t think you should have necessarily assumed that they would be keeping you on, and should have kept your options open and started job hunting towards the end of your contract.

From what you have posted, your employer hasn’t done anything illegal.

You do need to get some proper legal advice, which you can get for free. Technically you are being dismissed when the company ends your fixed term contract and the reason for this needs to be fair. If the maternity cover is doing the same duties you were doing this could be deemed to be unfair - would your fixed term contact have been ended had you not taken maternity leave? The exception may be if you were brought on for a specific project or piece of work and the maternity cover is doing something similar but for a different project.