Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Lecturer

A University

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

CA-00012438-001

12/07/2017

The worker is in dispute about her current employment contract. She is currently employed on a term time Teaching Fellow contract covering 9 months of the academic year in the Discipline of Italian at the employer’s college. She is paid at the 2nd point of the Teaching Fellow (merged) salary scale pro-rata to €35,593 per annum.

Her claim is that her responsibilities, duties, role and qualifications are not reflected in her current title as Teaching Fellow and salary structure. She is seeking to have her post titled as Assistant Professor (lecturer).

The worker is seeking to be recognised and upgraded to lecturer status which would reflect her current function within the college. The salary she is seeking is approximately €48,091 Lecturer scale B which is the 6th point of the Lecturer scale.

The worker has been employed either directly or indirectly by the employer since 1st of October 2008. She was employed as a Research Fellow, Research Associate and visiting Research Fellow (Honorary) and Adjunct Professor from 1st of October 2008 until 9th of June 2017.

On the 4th and 17th of October 2017 the worker’s union wrote to management expressing concerns regarding her salary and status. A meeting with management took place on 1st November 2016 and another on the 8th of March 2017 where the union sought the restoration of Lecturer status for the worker. The employer said that it could not be conceded as she was offered a CID post as a Teaching Fellow. While this position addressed some of the issues raised relating to the disproportionate administrative workload the issues regarding grade and title were disregarded. She is no longer eligible to apply for research funding.

The union stated that the title of Teaching Fellow is damaging to the worker’s international reputation as a scholar and researcher. After holding for 3 years from September 2014 to June 2017 the title of Adjunct Assistant Professor, which indicates an active engagement with research and teaching, the change of her title to Teaching Fellow suggests that engagement with research has either been interrupted or is not recognised by the college. It was submitted that the change of title signals a disempowerment or even a demotion from academic viewpoint and is damaging to her reputation.

It is submitted that in order to grow her international profile and keep representing the college abroad delivering conference papers and organising conference with international colleagues, it is of crucial importance that she is allowed access to travel and conference funding. The college has been willing to pay her travel and conference expenses in the past and it would be detrimental to her career if this support was stopped.   She was told by the former HOD in the academic year 2016/17 that there was no budget available for conferences and since then she has had to decline invitations.

During the meeting on the 20th of November 2016, the worker expressed her concern about the lack of recognition by the college towards her research skills and her growing international research profile. In her new academic role, the title Teaching Fellow she is not required to conduct research. When the worker asked to have the work, she was doing as a researcher taken into account, she was informed that the college had not asked her to do research since the end of her postdoctoral contract in 2011 and there was no obligation to offer any compensation for it. The worker said that this was incorrect and set out a list of research and research courses she had conducted since 2011 and publications and the funding she had received during this period. As an adjunct assistant professor, she co-supervised a senior sophister thesis and a translation portfolio. She was encouraged to perform supervision duties by the former HOD and is entitled to do so in accordance with the colleges list of duties for the title of Adjunct Assistant Professor.

She said that she can no longer take opportunities to prepare applications for research funding as she does not receive a salary for the Summer period and the Teaching Fellow position which she holds does not allow her to carry out research during the academic year. Furthermore, she has been informed that as she has not been contracted to carry out research she is not eligible for research funding. She submitted that this was a change to the conditions the contract she held as an Adjunct Assistant Professor.

The worker was placed second on a panel for the position of Assistant Professor in 2016 but there was only one vacancy. At that time, she was deemed appointable to the position on account of her teaching, research and administrative skills. Another post arose in 2017 and she was not even shortlisted for interview. Her union say she should have been offer that post given the recommendations in an expert report on fixed-term and part-time employment in lecturing in third Level Education commissioned by the Department of Education which gave the colleges discretion in awarding contracts.

The union stated that the claim was not cost increasing one. They are asking that the appropriate grade be applied to the worker and such a claim was not limited by either Haddington or the Lansdowne Agreements.

The union is seeking a recommendation seeking the implementation of the Lecturer grade and the appropriate salary for the worker.

The worker was employed on fixed term contracts as a Research Fellow in the Department of Italian from October 2008 to work on research projects. The post was externally funded and this ceased in November 2011. During this period, she undertook periodic occasional teaching duties and was remunerated through the casual payroll. She was subsequently engaged on a fixed term contract as an Adjunct Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in September 2014 to provide teaching on the Italian language and option courses.

In October 2016 the union raised concerns in relation to the workers contract and the volume of work. The Head of School met with the worker and her union and he undertook to examine the issues raised within the context of similar cases across the school.   He liaised with all the heads of departments in the school and the faculty executive for approval to proceed with a proposal. At a meeting with the worker and her union the she was offered a pensionable Teaching Fellowship post (term time) on a contract of indefinite duration.   The pay scale is the equivalent to the first 6 points of the Assistant Professor scale (merged). The worker wanted her post regularised as an Assistant Professor on the incremental scale for that post and she was informed that it was not possible.

The worker accepted the Teaching Fellow contract and signed it on the 30th of June 2017 on the basis that she would continue to pursue her complaint about the Teaching Fellow contract. She raised a number of issues with the college concerning research and Ph.D. supervision. She was informed that as research was not a requirement in her contract she could not supervise Ph.D. student nor could she could not prepare applications for research grants within her contractual teaching hours.

The worker cannot be appointed to a permanent post of Assistant Professor as requested as the college must follow procedures to fill such vacancies. An application must be made to the Faculty Executive and a number of matters have to be taken into consideration before approval is given.   If the application is approved all Assistant Professor posts are filled by internationally advertised competition.

The worker dispute concerns the post and title of Teaching Fellow to which she was appointed on a CID contract. She is seeking that the title and salary scale for the position of Assistant Professor so that she can carry out the full range of duties including research associated with that post. Having considered the matter, I am not recommending that the worker be given the title of Assistant Professor as that is a post must be filled by competitive competition. I also note the fact that 7 or 8 other workers in a similar situation were given similar contracts around the same time

In calculating the worker’s point on the incremental salary scale for the post of Teaching Fellow, I recommend that the employer consider the worker’s experience as a lecturer with the college prior to the appointment to her current position and recommend giving her credit for this experience on her current incremental scale. In relation to the worker’s grievance about research, I recommend that the employer meet with the worker and her union representative to determine if she could be facilitated with an element of research within her current contract for the benefit of her career progression.