Funding for legal representation in High Court

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:22:59 +0100

If you would like to help me achieve the funding needed to be represented by senior counsel in the High Court, please click on the photo below. This act alone will increase the visibility of my campaign. If you would also like to pass on the link through indiegogo or Facebook, that would also help. It is important that the orders contained in the Labour Court decision found in my favour in 2008 are upheld by the High Court, not just for my sake but for other teachers who have cited the Labour Court determination as a precedent in their own cases, including another teacher for the school of music.

For a short account of what the case is about, you can visit my profile here: http://www.indiegogo.com/Hugh-Rance

I have added the reference shown below from the Director of the County Cork School of Music from 2006, the time my case began, which confirms my contribution to the provision of music teaching in West Cork.

Enforcement of Labour Court Determination and legal fees required for representation in the High Court

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:08:05 +0100

In December 2008, the Labour Court in Ireland made a determination in my favour and against my employer, County Cork Vocational Education Committee under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003. County Cork VEC is a large statutory authority with 2,800 employees and a budget of 100 million Euro per annum in 2008.

My Background I have taught the flute and saxophone for County Cork School of Music, which is administered by County Cork VEC, since being invited to teach by the Director of the CCSM in 2001. I have also taught art and design part-time. I have taught full-time, providing individual tuition to between 35 and 40 students each week, since 2004. In my own time and without any financial assistance from the VEC, I set up music teaching centres in three West Cork colleges. I also introduced other music teachers to the director of the CCSM, so that students in local primary and secondary schools could benefit from the subsidised musical instrument tuition already available in other more populated parts of County Cork, the largest county in Ireland but not in West Cork.
 What the Labour Court Ordered The Labour Court awarded me a permanent contract (a CID or Contract of Indefinite Duration) back-dated to 2006 to which I was entitled under both Irish and EU law. I was also awarded arrears of pay, as I had been laid off during school holidays and had been paid the unqualified rate for teaching art, for which I am fully qualified. The Labour Court ordered the VEC to make up arrears of pension contributions as I had been excluded from the pension scheme. The Labour Court awarded €9,000 compensation for travel expenses as they had been paid to other permanent employees but not to me because I had been treated illegally as a part-time casual employee (I taught full-time at five different schools in West Cork). The Labour Court awarded €5,000 compensation for not facilitating the further training first requested in 2005. The Court ordered that the VEC facilitate further training for a music diploma to be treated as qualified for music and not just for art in which I already have an honours degree and Post Graduate Certificate in Education with double distinction. Although I had taught art at a local VEC school part-time since 2001, since my employment rights case in 2007, I was offered no further art teaching.

What the employer did in response to the Labour Court decision County Cork VEC did not appeal the Labour Court decision but only partially complied with the determination by paying some of the compensation. The VEC deducted €4,230 in tax from the €9,000 ordered to be paid in compensation but the Revenue Commissioners confirmed the award was not taxable. The VEC did not pay any arrears of holiday pay and issued a contract containing the same fixed-term conditions as before, laying me off in school holidays and excluding me from the pension scheme. Eight months after the determination, following a further complaint under the Organisation of Working Time Act for failure to pay legal holiday pay, the VEC changed my rate of pay and placed me on the lowest point 1 of the teachers incremental scale. (I was already on point 4 of the incremental scale when teaching in the UK in 1994). The VEC then sent me a demand for €9,271 arrears of wages which they then claimed to have overpaid me since 2006. Instead of making up the arrears of pension contributions since 2006, the VEC sent me a demand for €5,532 for arrears.

Labour Court order to facilitate further training to be treated as qualified for teaching music The VEC did nothing since 2005 to address the matter of facilitating further training, in spite of the Employment Rights Commission and the Labour Court ordering this in 2008. Therefore I applied for and gained a place two years in succession in 2009 and 2010 at University College Cork for a one year Higher Diploma in Music. This is a course only accessible to those with previous professional or academic music background and is examined with and on the same basis as final year music degree students. However, instead of facilitating this further training, the VEC then changed the qualification requirements in August 2009 for me to be treated as qualified, from a diploma to a three year degree course in Dublin. This effectively negated my own efforts since 2005 to rectify the situation and made it impossible in my circumstances to become treated as qualified for the job I have been doing since 2001. I could not fund myself for a three year degree course and move to Dublin while maintaining mortgage payments and my home in County Cork. In any case, the VEC have been ordered to facilitate training for a diploma, the only qualification ever referred to in legal hearings as being necessary.

Why was County Cork VEC so reluctant to grant me my employment rights
At the first hearing before the Employment Rights Commission, the CEO of County Cork VEC admitted that 28 other music teachers out of the 90 employed at the time were affected by the same issue in being employed on successive casual contracts and laid off in school holidays. In the case before the Labour Court, the CEO's statement to a senior management colleague was cited, that if I were granted my employment rights "it would open the floodgates". In other words, it would be extremely expensive to grant all employees the rights to which they were entitled in law. Thus it is significantly cheaper to defend a legal action against one or two employee than to change policy at the start and to fully implement the law for all employees. Few people in such circumstances while they have a job, are willing to take action, sensing the enormous potential cost to themselves.

The effect of non-compliance Other teachers have also been affected by the same issues. A fellow music teacher for the VEC and County Cork School of Music, citing my Labour Court determination, also won her case before Christmas at the and was awarded €25,000 in compensation by the Employment Rights Commission for not being provided with a legal contract and for not being facilitated with further training to be treated as qualified.  The non-compliance with the Labour Court determination led to enforcement proceedings. When the case went to the Circuit Court for enforcement, it was transferred from one judge to another after five hearings. The second judge declared at the initial hearing over which he presided, that he did “not have the expertise” to deal with the issues in the case. He then attempted to send the case back to the Labour Court. However, he did not have jurisdiction to do so and the Labour Court declared that it was “functus officio”. This means that it had made its decision which was clear and final and that it had no further statutory role in proceedings which were now in the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court. The judge in the Circuit Court then adjourned the case several more times, until after ten hearings and 18 months since the application was made, he refused to grant an order for enforcement and made no order for costs. This in itself was a particular injustice, since it left me with a substantial bill for my legal costs incurred for a case only made necessary because of the non-compliance of the VEC within the fixed statutory time limit of six weeks. No appeal was made against the Labour Court decision thus it should have been implemented.  This unsatisfactory result led to an application for leave for judicial review in the High Court. Leave was granted on the 8th February by Judge Peart on the grounds submitted and the case is scheduled for hearing at the beginning of October in Dublin. You can download and read the High Court’s order granting leave for judicial review (which is quite short) by using this link: High Court Order Granting Leave for Judicial Review

What I need in order to proceed with representation by legal counsel In order to proceed with legal representation in the High Court, which involves retaining a solicitor, barrister and senior counsel, I have to raise €13,600 mainly for for senior counsel’s fees which have been offered at a discount because of my circumstances.

My limited circumstances versus the VEC's large budget Due to the detrimental change to my pay and further levies and cuts to public service pay, for teaching music full-time after making my modest mortgage and Credit Union repayments, I now earn only €195 per week net which is not enough to meet existing commitments and I do not have savings to fall back on. (Job Seeker’s Benefit in Ireland is currently €188 per week). By comparison, the VEC has a budget of 100 million Euro and considerable resources at its disposal and was usually represented by 5 people at previous legal hearings; the CEO, his deputy, the head of the Human Resources Department, a solicitor and a Barrister. I successfully represented myself up to and including the Labour Court stage. The VEC were also found in breach of the Organisation of Working Time Act for not providing rest breaks and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act for not providing a legal statement of terms and conditions of employment. The VEC has admitted to the Department of Education that there twelve current employment rights actions against them and maintain that this is not a significant number of complaints for a large organisation.

What I am doing myself to try and raise the legal fees needed. In September 2009 I started a small business selling rugs and kilims at Bantry and Skibbereen markets on Friday and Saturday mornings and I now have a website www.kilim.ie on which I have photographs of the rugs for sale. Without the additional income from this business, I would not be able to afford to go on teaching music or stay in my home. I have also had to sell a number of personal possessions to stay solvent and meet existing legal expenses. I am currently trying to sell my piano towards the legal bill (See FOR SALE link at top of page). As you can imagine, the whole experience since 2007 has been enormously time consuming, costly and stressful, and has taken its toll on my previously good health. It would have been far easier to give up but my sense of natural justice would not allow me to do so. It is ironic than while my own case has been cited as an important precedent leading to others achieving their employment rights, after more than two years I am still struggling to have the Labour Court determination enforced.

The precedent set
It is important that such a Labour Court determination which implements European law is properly upheld by the courts. If it is not, then other employees such as those who have since cited my determination in their own employment rights cases, may have great difficulty in having such Labour Court decisions enforced and thus receive the employment rights to which they are entitled in both Irish and EU law. If I am successful, it will enable me and other similarly treated employees to receive the employment rights to which we are entitled. If I lose, I will have to bear the costs of both parties and will most likely have to sell my house and possibly go into bankruptcy.

Please help
In order to try and raise the amount I need for legal representation, I am asking friends, family, past rug customers and anyone else who reads about my cause to help if they can by buying a kilim or rug. I am having a sale until September. If you can’t accommodate a rug yourself but know someone who may be interested, please pass on the link to my website: www.kilim.ie  Any purchase of a rug or kilim however small, would be greatly appreciated and help me raise the funds needed to have legal representation in the High Court in October. Donations are of course welcome too but I would rather you got something in return for your contribution.

Thank you for your patience in reading about my case.

Hugh Rance

You can read the full decision by the Labour Court on the Labour Relations Commission website by clicking on the extracts below.

Jack Frost at Play

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:22:14 +0000

Three days of Jack Frost at play on the bathroom window, culminating in this Celtic lingam!

Dunbeacon Stone Circle

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:30:50 +0100

An early start this morning and a tramp through dew laden long grass to visit Dunbeacon Stone Circle for sunrise. Although the official time for sunrise was 4.18am, the sun itself didn’t actually appear until about 6am. Before sunrise, the Paps of Anu on the Cork/Kerry border were clearly visible on the horizon, faced by the massive and broadest, square shaped standing stone. As the sun came up, the Paps gracefully dissolved with the increasing sunlight and eventually became invisible. A nice reflection of the dark nocturnal Lunar Paps giving way to the Solar daylight. It will be interesting to see where the sun comes up for the winter solstice in relation to the Paps as it rose a little way to their north for the summer solstice. Here’s a link to an antenatal breastfeeding class website with a desription of Anu, mother godess of the earth, of fertility and of all the gods. There’s a closeup of the Paps of Anu and a great little video. http://www.anulife.ie/who_is_anu.asp

There is a clear relationship to Mount Corin nearby as you can see in the photos. Mount Corin is beyond a stone row to the north comprising of two tall finger stones. Mount Gabriel, also not far away, was the major source of copper for ancient bronze production for the region and abroad. (See my blog HERE for an example of such a bronze axehead). For a link to an album of photos of Dunbeacon Stone Circle from before dawn to sunrise this morning, click HERE or on the photo above.

What’s New?

Funding for legal representation in High Court

Enforcement of Labour Court Determination and legal fees required for representation in the High Court

Jack Frost at Play

Dunbeacon Stone Circle