Raising a grievance at work. Pointless? Or worth it?

[DeltaFlyer]

Before lockdown I raised a grievance at work about my role and working conditions. I contacted my union to get tbe ball rolling but work dont know im in a union as i kept this quiet. This is still at the informal stage, I was about to escalate to formal but then we closed and I was placed on furlough.

For context I am school support staff for the local council but i am not in during the main school day nor am I in everyday. As such I am not on the main email list, I am on the secondary list.
My grievance was about the school not abiding by the statutory minimum ratios in the early years during an activity club that I run.

Over the furlough period I have not received several emails that I should have done. So I wasnt sent an important one about a training course - the first I heard about it was when I was called to ask why I had missed the deadline. I did manage to compete it but it was late. I queried this with the secretary and recieved an apology (via email) as it transpired that she used the main list and not the secondary one.

The school then updated the staff emails and contacted people to inform then of the change using the old email. I didn't receive this. I had been trying to get in touch about returning to work using the old email addresses but not recieving a reply. I got into contact by phone call 2 weeks before the end of the summer hols.

I finally gained access to the new email on Monday as the IT person was on holiday.
Several important emails sent to the new email have obviously gone unread and unactioned in this time. So i have started the school year off a bit behind but mostly it's ok.

My main annoyance stems from the fact that dh's industry has suffered from corona related issues, there is a blanket ban on overtime which means we are worse off financially. I work extremely part time in order to be the main child carer as paid childcare isn't financially viable due to me being term time only and dh not having set hours. I'm in a position now where I need to look for a job with more hours as we're struggling.
I had been looking for a 2nd job to supplement our income and asked for a reference from the school for a few things, which unfortunately haven't panned out yet so they knew I was looking at opportunities.
There was an email I hadnt received about a temp part time opportunity in school which has now gone to someone else. This role would have been perfect for me.

I have already had an informal discussion about the email address situation but the school are saying it's my fault and making me out to be a liar. "I definitely sent it to you". I mentioned not receiving the training email and she said that never happened.
The same reaction as when I raised the grievance in early March.

I am tempted to write a written complaint about it but not sure if there's much point as I'm applying for other roles, with the council as well as others. I can't afford to just leave and it could be sometime before i find something with suitable hours. I do feel like I'm being pushed out to a degree and don't want to receive a bad reference though hence the desire to complain formally so they can investigate and see I'm not lying.

If I were to raise a grievance I have the apology email as proof I was missed before. I have my inbox with lack of emails too. I realise that they can say I deleted it but she says schools ICT services can pull back deleted emails no worries there.

what would you do? And thanks for any input - it's greatly appreciated.

Apologies about the length, I didn't want to miss anything.

Firstly there’s been a lot of upheaval and mistakes due to covid in our workplace.

“I have already had an informal discussion about the email address situation but the school are saying it's my fault and making me out to be a liar. "I definitely sent it to you". Then ask for proof, there’ll be a thread, with a date stamp.
“There was an email I hadnt received about a temp part time opportunity in school which has now gone to someone else... “ Aren’t the jobs advertised? Even temporary ones on the council website? We aren’t emailed individually about jobs, we have to look ourselves.

Personally I’d either look for another job and say nothing or just carry on working as normal.
Why were you furloughed? the teaching staff I know still worked throughout covid.

Have you checked your “junk” emails - just in case?
You seem a bit over sensitive to me, is that a possibility? There just seems to be a few missed emails...

I think this is quite telling ”My main annoyance stems from the fact that dh's industry has suffered from corona related issues, there is a blanket ban on overtime which means we are worse off financially.”

You are disproportionately annoyed at something your employer has done, because of factors which are nothing to do with them at all. It is good that you have enough self-awareness to have noticed that.

Look objectively at what they have done before deciding whether a formal grievance is necessary. Would someone else with different personal circumstances think what sounds like some missed emails and a bit of administrative incompetence to be worthy of a formal grievance. Also before commencing any grievance, consider what you are trying to achieve.

Your grievance about ratios is entirely separate and may well be worth pursuing if you have safeguarding concerns or concerns that the school is operating unlawfully.

But I would say a grievance about your specific issues about your employment is probably not sensible.

Thanks for your input;

Yes you're right about being irrationally annoyed regarding the missed opportunity, if I wasnt looking for extra hours I wouldnt be annoyed.

As my role is after school I was furloughed as there was no work for me to do. I am paid from money raised by the activity so with no activity there is no money to pay me and the school didn't want to take money from the whole school budget. I was happy to be furloughed as it was the best option to keep the activity for the kids.

Yes I did check my junk emails and nothing there. Even logged in online rather than the app in case of syncing issues but nothing.

The vacancy had been advertised internally via the emails, not unheard off but certainly not common. I realise this usually means they have the candidate in mind already.

Yes the issue regarding ratios is a separate one, and I can see ive let that cloud my judgement regarding the email issue. For a few missed emails I wouldn't formally complain, I was just trying to give a fuller picture of the whole scenario.

I think you are right about me being sensitive actually. Thank you for being direct enough to say it.
I am employed by the school but not a member of the main team so to speak. As im a lone worker and not working at the same times as the others. So where I feel pushed out actually stems from that already being separate. I felt ok with it at first but now I dont feel it's for me.

Going forward then I will still look for a new role but I will go informally about the emails and ask that I be included more on them so I know what's afoot.

Thanks again

Be very careful when taking out grievances. They rarely end well for the aggrieved party. Employers have long memories when it comes to these things, especially SLT in schools.

I'm not sure what you expect from this. There isn't even an obligation for the employer to notify anyone of the vacancy. They could just give the job to anyone they like. So yes, it's unfortunate you didn't see the email for whatever reason, but so what? The job has gone to someone. You had no legal right to apply or to get the job. Complaining won't get you anything or improve the situation. On that basis there is no point in complaining.