My new 30 hour a week job,is more than 24 hours! Help!

[firefirefire]

My new job is supposed to be 30 hours a week.

However, I completed by first week last week and it's more than 30 hours. I have to work through my lunch time as can't leave my area unattended, but my contract has me down as 30 mins unpaid each day for a lunch hour. In addition to this, I have been told there are several meetings each week that I need to attend as they are compulsory. But these fall outside of my hours and mean I need to be at work early or stay late. Due to the nature of my role, there is no way of having this time back as TOIL.

Due to childcare, I left on the time it said on my contract today but it was obviously very frowned upon and I felt like I was sciving.

It seems they want to pay and employ me for 30 hours, but it's actually full time.

I am worried to go to HR as I don't want to be a trouble maker . I have 5 children, so working as if I don't is not possible!

They need to find cover for you or pay you for the working through lunch, but since it's an educational setting I can't see that happening.

“Dear boss, please can you let me know who is to cover during my lunch break? Would it help if I were to take my break at a fixed time each day (eg 12:00 to 12:30)”

If nothing happens, at 12/12:30 on Friday put you coat on, say to your colleague “i’m Off for lunch , back in 1/2 hr” and walk out - don’t do this till you have asked about policy though! If queried, say you have an urgent errand or An appointment “that I made specifically during my unpaid lunch break so I wouldn’t impact the business ”

Don’t be too nice - you are entitled to a lunch break but may have to fight a little to get it. When people are used to you taking it they will see it as normal

Ah, your update changes things.
Chances are that you are “volunteering” to cover the lunchtime club or that the hours will mean you get a couple of days off at another point in the year. Several TAs I know get a couple of days tagged on to a holiday here & there because they stay for the odd meeting etc. It works out over the year.
You need to clarify if the lunchtime session is actually “voluntary” and you may choose not to do it or if it’s “duty” & you will be compensated at another point in the year or if it’s a written part of your job description in which case they need to give you alternative time for your break

If you're a sn teacher paid hourly get on to your union. This isn't acceptable treatment.

Thank you so much everyone, will reply properly later.

I believe because I intervention teach and am part time, that being paid hourly is the norm. Will speak to union though

They need to facilitate a lunch are you expected to eat and supervise?

Sorry, but I used to be an SN teacher, went part time when I had my own kids, and it was no different from any other teacher, lunch times often spent with kids, duties at breaks and before/after school, and meetings every day before school started, after school each week, and the usual parent teacher meetings, whether on my paid days or not. That's how being a teacher works (ie unpaid overtime), Im baffled as to why you think anything different.

Are you actually a teacher or a teaching assistant. If it is the former I cannot understand how you ever thought the job would be 8.30 am until 3 pm? Most teachers are in school until 5.30 pm and in many cases at work by 7.30 am. It seems the norm also for most TA's to stay behind after school beyond their paid hours.

Yes, I worked in a special needs school and working extra above your hours was pretty normal/expected. I was just a TA so usually got my half an hour lunch but was constantly staying late, and teachers usually did more, even the part time ones. I think it’s just the nature of the beast?

You are a teacher? And we’re worrying about 30 mins lunch and the odd meeting outside your usual hours???

I assumed you were in the tills in Tesco or something!!

Yes, you’ll probably find you have to suck this up.

I disagree with previous posters. If you have been hired for a set number of hours, contracted hours, to run interventions with students, it doesn't matter if you're 'a teacher'. You're being treated like a TA with a teaching degree and should not be expected to work beyond your contracted hours without overtime.

Speak to your union.

Awish that's definitely not how it works in practice, as plenty of ppl who work in a school will tell you.

I work in a primary school.

How ironic that everyone was so fired up about this injustice until OP revealed she was a teacher!! Are they due less worker rights than other professions? I’m not sure if it’s laughable or terrifying to see the contrast!
It might be part of the current climate in teaching to work yourself to the bone, but it’s not big and it’s not clever. And it’s certainly not your duty. I hope you can get this sorted OP.

awish congratulations. What as? Everyone I have known (apart from a couple of not v enthusiastic or well regarded TAs) has worked over their contracted hours, regularly. And in every teaching contract I have ever had there have been hours specified as 'at headteachers discretion' which covered meetings outside these contracted hours. I suggest OP checks the fine print.

Everyone who is scoffing now that the OP has revealed she is a teacher.... shame on you! (and for the record the exclamation mark is to express dismay!!. Especially those who have been teachers, head teachers etc. I assume you were on salaries? Salaries that covered school holidays, holiday pay etc. If you were a TA or part time and you took this BS then shame on you... you make it harder for everyone else.

The OP is being paid hourly, and will get pro rata holiday pay for 30 hours. She should do 30 hours. If the school need someone to work full time hours, they should pay full time hours or a salary. Just like any other industry. As the owner of a medium sized business, yes I expect our salaried workers to work above their contacted hours as and when the business needs. But if we take on a part time employee, on an hourly rate, regardless of that employees reasons, eg Child care, other commitments, I would never expect unpaid over time. Yes there may be times when I might ask for extra, but it will be paid. When it is expected (we have some seasonal peaks), we write it into the contract. Every employee deserves this fairness, no matter what the sector.

My daughters school lost their best nursery teacher on this basis. What she was paid for and what was expected of her were worlds apart. She got a job at another nursery near by that gave her a more honest package. The same happened with a friend who was a forest school teacher, she has now left and found a better employer.

TA. And of course everyone does put in over their contracted hours, but not on a day in and day out basis like the OP appears to have to do.

Productrecall - I think it’s offensive to suggest that only ‘not very well regarded TA’s’ work their actual contracted hours. As if valuing your worth makes you less of a Teacher/TA. As I said, particularly when teachers are on salaries, not hourly like most TA’s.

Spot on, thewarrenerswife. It was offensive. And patronising.

It's amazing how many expect people on hourly contracts to be paid for their hours worked ... except people in schools ... and have the cheek to sugget that they're not 'committed' if they don't work for free lot of extra hours.

@Thewarrenerswife @AWishForWingsThatWork

Im sorry that you found my response 'offensive' and 'patronising'! I have worked in schools since around 1997, and have always found that the vast majority of ppl working there in any teaching capacity have done more that the hours stated on their contract. I'm not saying it's right, it's just the way it seems to have evolved. And I'm sure teaching isn't the only profession in which more and more is expected from employees, without payment of overtime. I have even read about it on here.

and have the cheek to sugget that they're not 'committed' if they don't work for free lot of extra hours.

This is not my personal opinion, it is what happened in the places I worked! Do you think I enjoyed logging the extra hours I worked on an evening (being a part timer of 4 days a week) to prove I was contributing sufficiently and not slacking? I was advised to do this by my HOD, because I was worried that I missed an after school meeting on my day off. I already attended all 8am morning briefings after dropping my DC off at childcare as soon as it opened, and the after school department meeting earlier in the week.

I suggested OP check her contract because if it says anything like hours at headteachers discretion, she will have no argument at all.

I agree, yes, it is amazing how some ppl have the cheek to be so patronising and offensive!

This is hardly unique to teaching.

Most salaried roles expect more than the stated hours. Especially when you’re on a part-time contract. And especially when the part-time hours are so close in number to a standard full time week.

Most people I know who have tried to go back to work on a 4 day week found they were just being paid 20% less to do the same job.

@ChocolateCard

The OP is not in a salary. She is on a 30 hour contract, which means she will not be paid for school holidays like salaried teachers are, and her holiday pay will be pro rata based on the 30 hrs. In short, they are expecting her to do a full time job on part time pay. I don't know any other industry that considers this the norm.

She is on a 30 hour contract, which means she will not be paid for school holidays like salaried teachers are, and her holiday pay will be pro rata based on the 30 hrs.

So she's not going to be paid for the holidays, but her holiday pay will be pro rata? That doesn't make sense.

Do you mean the money she would have been paid during the holidays is paid in her wage during the school term? Because that's what happens as a supply teacher, whose take home pay during school term is higher than 'regular' teachers, and thus works out about the same overall. Plenty of supply teachers also work longer than contracted hours. When I had a brief stint as supply when moving from one county to another, I was planning lessons and marking books etc. Out of school contracted hours.

There's no point us discussing it here until OP comes back with the exact wording of her contract. And even if it does specify 30hrs only, they rely on A LOT of goodwill from ppl in regularly doing extra time such as planning, assessments etc. It's nothing new, and it's not only specific to teaching. And with the best will in the world and terrific organisation, if you're planning effective individualized intervention programmes for kids, assessing them as an ongoing process and feeding back, I don't see how that is always going to fit exactly into the 30hrs unless they are not using OP at full capacity.

Anyhow, OP was going to be speaking to her manager (HoD? SENCO?) 'tomorrow' and hasn't updated, so I suspect she's been told something she wasn't happy with?

Why doesn’t it make sense? A salary gets paid weekly/fortnightly or whatever, and that continues through the school holidays. If their contract is 40 hours, the holiday pay will be pro rats on that 40 hours. As an employee on a hourly wage, not supply, so not inflate btw, the OP will not get paid during school holidays. Their holiday pay will be based on 30hours pro rats even though they are expected to work through lunch and stay late for meetings which will take her closer to 40 hours. If they need an employee to work 40 hours they should advertise a 40 hour position. I’m pretty sure that if the OP didn’t have child care commitments she’d be applying for full time employment. She does have commitment, so she applied for a part time job. Is really not a difficult concept to be paid for the hours you are contracted. 🤔