Hiring hitch

A teacher who was pregnant and gave birth this past Saturday, has accused administrators at Grateful Hill Primary School of bungling the hiring process, which has resulted in her not being paid for two months.

In an interview with The Gleaner on Thursday, the grade-four teacher, who asked that her name be withheld due to health concerns, said she applied for the position at the St Catherine-based public school in late September, having lived overseas and recently returned to the island.

She said after submitting the application, she was invited to an interview to which she brought documents she believed were relevant to the hiring process although she said she had not been asked to do so.

The teacher said she was hired on the spot and given four copies of a 503 form. The form captures the personal information of new teachers.

They are also required to submit a client form with their banking details; copies of their National Insurance Scheme number, tax registration number, a letter of assumption (which states that this person has taken up this position at this school beginning at this time); and a medical report.

The teacher said she signed four copies of the 503 form and began working the same day she completed the interview.

She said all of the documents she submitted were copied at the school’s administration office except her qualifications and birth certificate.

She said she left the latter documents with the office but noted that they were returned to her a few days later without having been copied. She said she was told that, at a later date, they would ask her to resubmit them.

“When October came around I was looking forward to getting something in my account, but I didn’t see anything. I started questioning why is it that I submitted all my information and I didn’t see any salary,” the educator said.

She said at that point, she began enquiring of other teachers if they had been paid and only then found out that “quite a few” also had not been paid. She said this included some who had been hired earlier than she was.

Documents not SUBMITTED

The teacher said her checks subsequently revealed that only two people from the group of new hires had been paid.

“I said ‘OK, maybe it is that the Ministry of Education hasn’t processed my documents, or whatever’,” she reasoned.

She said she was called into a meeting the week of November 8 and told that she needed to submit additional documents.

That is where she said she learnt that the school did not submit to the ministry any of the documents she had previously provided.

“So, I said that is why I haven’t received any salary. I have been working here and the Ministry of Education doesn’t know that I exist,” she recalled.

The teacher said she fell ill and was unable to deliver the documents required the following day as instructed.

She was asked to submit a medical report and marriage certificate, the latter of which she said she had already submitted.

Her husband, who also spoke with The Gleaner, began dealing with the school as a result of his wife’s ill health.

He said a medical report could not be produced based on consultation with his wife’s doctor, but that had one been requested at the initial point of hire, she would have been able to produce it.

Her doctor had already granted her sick leave and noted that a medical would also reflect that, indicating that she would not be fit or healthy at that point.

“Each time she submits a document they want her to run up and down and submit additional documents,” he said, noting that it is costly to do so with the school being located in deep rural St Catherine.

He said she had submitted documents three separate times based on requests from the school.

“They are putting her under added stress to be running up and down and paying money. I think this is a vitriolic act. This is calculated to put her under stress. I can’t come to any better conclusion than that,” the man said.

Added to that, the couple accused the principal of washing his hands of the situation, instructing that the teacher deal directly with the school’s guidance counsellor.

The guidance counsellor, also a new hire, was asked to be mediator.

“The environment is toxic,” the teacher claimed, adding that the guidance counsellor should not have been instructed to handle a confidential matter.

“Once you begin to ask about your salary, it’s a challenge. I remember asking him in the interview what will my salary be at the end of the month, and up to this day, I do not have an answer,” she said.

She said she was told that she would have to check the teacher salary scale because it was not clear given the Government’s compensation review exercise.

“It’s ridiculous and very unprofessional,” she said.

But school principal George Moodie has countered the teacher’s story, insisting that she did not make it known that she was pregnant until she was confronted.

Still, he said the teacher, a former student of his who he taught at Glengoffe High School, was hired.

He said the teacher was employed on September 26 but failed to submit all required documents, which has resulted in the delay in processing her salary.

“We tried our best. The ministry has been trying its best to accommodate her. They asked her for a medical certificate … . The fault is theirs,” he asserted, referring to the teacher and her husband.

Moodie also said that the 503 form had not been properly completed and was, as a result, submitted to the ministry only last week.

“I even told her, ‘Based on how we employed you, you’re not even due for maternity leave, but we will work things out’. So we’re trying our best … it’s all about aiding and assisting people,” he said.

Section 65(2) of the Education Regulations outlines that a teacher who is permanently employed may be granted maternity leave without completing the qualifying period.

Further, Moodie denied the claim that other teachers had not been paid.

“It’s not true. It is a case that we are waiting on her,” he said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com