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Family Income Supplement - Case 2

Question At Issue:

Whether hours worked in addition to contracted hours may be taken into consideration for family income supplement purposes.

Background:

The appellant’s family income supplement claim was disallowed on the grounds that he did not work a minimum of 19 hours per week / 38 hours per fortnight. He is a part-time teacher employed under contract for 11 hours per week. He maintains that his work involves additional hours in excess of those contracted and that they should be reckoned for the purpose of qualifying for family income supplement.

Oral Hearing:

The appellant attended alone. The deciding officer and a representative from the relevant Vocational Education Committee also attended.

The appellant made the point that the 11 hours he worked each week was, in effect, the time he spent in front of pupils. That did not include additional time he spent on class preparation and correction of work. He felt it was unfair to regard him as only working 11 hours per week. The deciding officer pointed out the legislative position i.e. entitlement to family income supplement is based on the actual number of paid hours worked and no account is taken of additional unpaid hours. The VEC representative confirmed that the appellant was employed on an 11 hour per week contract and she was not aware of any allowances payable for preparation / correction work. She suggested that, if required, additional information should be sought from the Department of Education.

Consideration of the Appeals Officer:

Following enquiries made by the Appeals Officer, the Department of Education confirmed that part-time teachers are contracted to work between 11 and 22 hours per week and there is nothing in the contract to require them to work any additional time outside of the contracted hours. Furthermore, there is nothing in the contract to imply that additional work is required in order to fulfil the duties and responsibilities associated with the required contracted hours. The appellant did not provide any evidence that he was obliged to work the additional hours claimed by him or that he would be in breach of his contract if he failed to do so.

In the light of the available evidence, the Appeals Officer concluded that appellant was obliged to work the number of contracted hours only and that any additional work he put in outside of those hours was purely at his own discretion.

Outcome:

Appeal disallowed.

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