On short secondment, old colleagues offered extension. Unfair?

[GotMyGoat]

Help please lovely people!

I came back to work from maternity leave in february, but was offered a secondment within my team, but more hours and more pay so jumped at it. Both my origional and secondment role are fixed term contracts till oct 31st.

Just learnt that all my old role colleagues have been invited to apply for a contract extension from oct 31st to july 2013, they applied last week. I havn't been offered this and feel like i should have been?

My secobdment contract states that i am expected to return to my old post once the secondment ends, though this isn't possible due to dates, but feel i have as much claim to the extension as others who wern't offered the secondment/ or went on maternity leave like me.

There's been no talk of extending my secondment, so i could be out of a job end of october :(
Do i have a right to be upset?

I'm going to ask some questions

Who is covering your post while you are on secondment, and what's happening to him/her?

What is happening to the work done by your post at the end of October?

Why was it a fixed term contract in the first place?

Presumably you've asked your manager, what reason were you given for your post not being extended?

Thanks for taking the time to respond :)

Who is covering your post while you are on secondment, and what's happening to him/her? There was never an advertisement for a maternity or secondment cover, as far as I know! however some colleagues have left and others have joined the team, so there are several people all doing the same work that I used to (as, in i used to be one of the several), so I couldn't point out to you one individual who covers my work, however all these members of staff have been offered to apply for the extension.

What is happening to the work done by your post at the end of October?
Original post - they don't need as many staff, as that side of the project is winding down which is why they are asking people to reapply, as they only need 3 assistants rather than the 7 or so they have now.
new post - The work I do is the same as several others now, so The work I do is very much still there, it's just about weather there's money in the budget to continue contracts.

Why was it a fixed term contract in the first place?
It's a fixed term project till next July, so all contracts within the team are fixed term - some for the full project length, and some shorter, It depends on how much money the project has in the budget, and the powers at be decide a few months in advance on what the project can have.

Presumably you've asked your manager, what reason were you given for your post not being extended?
I've asked about my secondment post, and have been told to wait and see if there's enough money in the budget to extend my current role, I hav'nt asked about the old role as I only just found out and wanted to find out if it looked fishy to others.

should have mentioned, my original and my secondment post were originally both till 31st july 2012, but then both were extended till 31st October.

I think I'm the only one on a secondment contract, so not sure If I gave up my original post rights by doing that?

The secondment contract itself will tell you whether you gave up your rights to the substantive post.

Assuming you haven't, and assuming you retain the right to return to your substantive post (if it's there) after your secondment ends, then you should be entitled to apply along with everyone else.

I think it would be helpful to think of it not as applying to have your contract extended, but as 7 posts reducing to 3, and applying for one of those posts. If everyone's contract ends on October 31st then after that they only need 3 of you, then it's a redundancy situation. Application for the posts is fine as a selection method, but if that's how they are selecting which stay and which go, you all need to have the opportunity to apply.

Speak to your manager asap.

Ok Thank you my secondment contract was just a letter saying my salary, contract length etc -so no small print there!

I'll be able to speak to my manager more calmly about it tomorrow, was a bit upset to find out this afternoon, and felt like i was being pushed aside.

At least you're not saying tough luck - problem is the colleague said they all had to apply last week, so might be too late already, will see what he says tomorrow.

Ok well that may not help you then, if it wasn't a proper secondment agreement confirming that x remains your substantive post and you have a right to return to it. It sounds like it could be painted as just a variation of contract from one post to another.

Speak to your manager anyway and see what the deal is.

It should be helpful - the letter did state it's a secondment and that I am expected to return to my substantive post.

Thanks for your time.

Hello, thought i'd update - I emailed my manager about all this, saying shouldn't I have been invited to apply, and received a reply from him and a hr rep saying that technically i'm right, they should have done but the reason they haven't is because they want to extend my secondment post to next july anyway.

I'm happy with that response, as long as I get the contract through.

Thanks for your help.

Let's hope they sort that out then. I imagine they will find the money to extend it, now they've realised their cock up!

Will certainly take this further if a contract doesn't appear in the next month or so - Thank you flowery.