Permanent change to working times for school staff - General - HR in Schools and Academies

7 Permanent change to working times for school staff

Adeel | 0 Posts

28 Jul, 2021 13:41

Hi Everyone,

Just needed some advice on a case i have at the moment (you'd think the summer would be running smoothly! lol)

So from September 20 when schools returned post lockdown we had amended break times and lunch time due to pupil bubbles etc which meant the Midday assistants working times changed slightly although their working hours remained the same. i started the school around 3/4 months before the pandemic started but essentially i believe they were doing 12.30pm to 1.45pm as their working times.

with the pandemic this changed from 11.00am to 11.30am and 12.30pm to 1pm, there was discrepancy of about 15 minutes which was made up by them helping out in other parts of the school.

A consultation took place around May/June 21 about a permanent change to the school day due to many positives that came out of how the school day was run during the pandemic (all done by the senior leadership team without any involvement from me). Unfortunately it seems the MDA's weren't members of the email group that the consultation information was sent out to ( i have spoke into IT about this) so the consultation happened with an overwhelming acceptance of the changes to school day.

So i updated the Rota for the Middays and sent it out in the belief that they were included as part of the consultation and one MDA said that she can no longer start at 11am as from September she has to drop her daughter off to an apprenticeship every morning.

She has been starting work at 11am throughout the pandemic, so i explained to her that this seems to be a change in personal circumstances and she can either put a flexible working request in or email the headteacher to see if something can be arranged. i explained to her that a consultation happened etc which is when i found out that the MDA's received no information.

I wanted to ask where do we stand with this? she has been doing these hours for a quite a long time now so is able to do them but personal circumstance from September has meant she cant start at 11am. I will speak with the headteacher any way to see if something can be arranged but if the school cant accommodate what would the next steps be?

would we have to do another consultation with just the MDA's?

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Johanna | 0 Posts

CIPD Staff

28 Jul, 2021 14:05

Hi Adeel and welcome! While you are waiting for Community members to share their thoughts on your situation, I'm just dropping by to tell you that you can also ring the CIPD employment law helpine for 24/7 free advice on your scenario from our trained responders. Thank you! www.cipd.co.uk/.../advice-support
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David | 0 Posts

28 Jul, 2021 21:45

In reply to Johanna:
Hi Adeel

This probably can't be properly answered without knowing the wording of the particular terms and conditions (if any) that apply to the individual MDA and any collective agreements that might apply too.

If there isn't any express / written right or possibly implied right for employer to vary working hours, then the employer can't unilaterally change them and might ultimately need to resort to fire and rehire process if the employee refused and alternative arrangements couldn't be agreed.

That's very much a last resort though, and hopefully agreement can be reached with full consultation.

(Because everyone seems otherwise to have gone along with the change you probably only need to consult fully and reasonably with this particular MDA - can see no great need to re-run it all with the rest of them although best to keep them informed. )

Are any trade unions involved re any of the MDAs too? - if so, best to keep them informed also.
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David | 0 Posts

28 Jul, 2021 21:55

In reply to David:

PS

Suppose it's possible to argue that it all got changed permanently to 11am and that this particular employee went along with it then so now the change has become permanent so now it's her requesting flexible working but can't really see the point in using a roundabout route that might not stand up to independent scrutiny (especially 'cos consutation got overlooked) if things ever got in front of eg a Tribunal - but as mentioned, surely they needn't with a bit of give and take all round?
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Maya | 0 Posts

28 Jul, 2021 23:28

You mention that there were two lunch shifts worked during the pandemic (11.00am to 11.30am and 12.30pm to 1pm); I assume that pattern hasn’t been made a permanent change, and so it’s therefore not an option for this particular person to just work the later shift?
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Keith | 0 Posts

29 Jul, 2021 08:15

Personally I would not see agreeing to a temporary change to hours during a national emergency / pandemic as being close to accepting a permanent change in terms and conditions. I think at the very least you need to start a consultation process and see what can be achieved.
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Adeel | 0 Posts

2 Aug, 2021 10:03

In reply to Keith:
Thanks All! You’ve confirmed what i was thinking, so i ended up calling the Staff member in question, explaining the situation and saying that we will be consulting with her, as the headteacher isn’t contactable at the moment i explored a few ideas with her that would allow her to maintain her working time (with about a 15 min difference from before). She seemed happy with it, i said to her i will present this to headteacher and organise a meeting where this can be discussed and she can also raise any concerns and we can hopefully work together to come to a mutual agreement. This was on Friday.

Fast forward to today (Monday) she has put in a letter of resignation, giving a full months notice. The letter seems that she is simply resigning and has no mention of why she is resigning and has all the usual niceties of a normal resignation. Im just thinking if she would be able to claim constructive dismissal? (She has more than two years service) Should i a draft response of some sort? Explaining whats happened so far and that the school is still open to hearing her out? Or should i just leave it?
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Ray | 0 Posts

2 Aug, 2021 10:42

At the best of times CD is difficult to prove and would normally require the person to walk away from the company. Given that you were still in exploratory constructive discussion with a view to seeking a mutually acceptable solution I don’t think such a claim would be successful
Ray
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