Assistance with employment conflicts and settlement agreements

Questioner

Ir/Madam, I have been working as a teacher at a secondary school for a year and a half. I have a temporary appointment (annual contract) of 0.6 fte. In addition, I study in my own time. The study is to obtain my teaching qualification and is therefore also in the interest of my employer. My employer pays a large part (75%) of my study costs. A repayment scheme applies to this at the end of the employment contract. My work is organized in such a way that some weeks I have a busy job (approx. 0.8 FTE) and other weeks I have very little work (approx. 0.35 FTE). I find that a pleasant situation, as long as there is a good variation. However, my employer now expects me to do all the busy weeks at the beginning of the school year and to get all the quiet weeks at the end of the school year. In the past six months I have done a lot of teaching hours and have hardly had time to study. But I also do not have enough time for lesson preparation and guidance. My performance suffers and ultimately I am the one who can be held accountable for that. I have tried to solve the problem with the timetablers, the department head and finally the principal. In my opinion, I have asked very reasonable questions: namely a timetable change so that I will have a few weeks of peace in January and I can catch up on my studies and lesson preparations. I made that request at the beginning of November (at that time the problem arose due to a timetable change that was unfavourable to me). But my employer does not want to accommodate me with a timetable change. I have also suggested that I continue working without a timetable change and that I would temporarily suspend my studies, but with the assurance that I would not be held accountable for the consequences. My employer did not want to agree to that either. In addition to the fact that this did not provide a solution, I was accused of being so difficult and not wanting to come up with solutions. The whole situation has escalated into an employment conflict, which is why I have not been working for a month now (intervention period on the advice of the company doctor). Today I had a meeting with my employer. It became clear that my employer does not want to accommodate me in any way and that we will therefore not reach an agreement. As far as I am concerned, we will part ways by means of a settlement agreement. My employer is now going to make me a proposal. Next week we will have a meeting to discuss this. However, I am afraid that my employer will make the settlement agreement very unfavorable for me. I think that my employer will try: - to claim back the tuition fees - will not grant study leave hours that were verbally promised to me - only wants to partially pay out my excess hours worked in the past six months (but also last year) - she wants to place blame in the middle, while my employer is the one who does not adhere to the collective labor agreement (which gives me the right to spread the work). My employer also does not adhere to the advice of the company doctor who says that a solution must be found for the problem with the schedule. In short: I would like information about two possible scenarios: - The settlement agreement. What rights do I have and how can I invoke them? What should I pay attention to? Etc... - The settlement agreement is so unfavorable that we cannot reach an agreement on that either. I think there is a good chance that I can get my way in court. What steps should I take? And what steps can my employer take to make things difficult for me? What should I pay attention to? And finally, the question: which agency(ies) can I contact for possible assistance in this matter? Thank you in advance for your answer. Kind regards

Lawyer

What should become part of the settlement agreement is a matter of negotiation. What you will have to pay attention to are the points that you yourself already list in connection with the possible culpability and the reimbursement of study costs. Furthermore, I also think that it is wise to have a good investigation into the extent to which you were indeed absolutely entitled to the spread you requested; a good reading of the collective labor agreement and law is necessary. If you cannot reach an agreement, the employer will have to follow a dismissal procedure or vice versa, you, by means of a request for unilateral dissolution. I do not think that is a wise choice.