Job Discussion Forums

[republocrat]

I came across this at a certain blog:

Try the latest at ADMC - mass sackings with faculty being informed by a new director that didn't know them. Reasons for being sacked? "your department is going in a different direction" and " you have already had contract renewals in the past so your time is finished." Took place just last week, so - Happy Christmas!

Does anybody have more information about this?

Sure glad I got out when I did!!

[Eisenhorn]

this isn't quite accurate. I'm not at AD, so i can't tell you about them, but at my college, there were people informed that their contracts wouldn't be renewed for the next academic year (which is what this says). That isn't being sacked. That is being told that you are not being renewed. There is a vast difference.

I know that I would appreciate being told before the winter break so i could line up other employment. I know for a fact that in the past, some folks were not told until AFTER TESOL Arabia... MOD edit... That is completely unprofessional.

Could there have been people SACKED, maybe... but I doubt it.

[veiledsentiments]

And then there was the year that ADWC terminated a whole bunch just a couple days before they were to get on the plane to go on summer leave. They were sent off with a nice tidy severance check of 6 months pay on top of their 2 months summer leave pay. But the timing certainly sucked. Yes, there is a bit of difference between being fired and "not renewed." There have been people fired and gone within a few days. But, sometimes, if not most of the time, it is just a 'face-saving' firing. You haven't done anything horrible but perhaps upset the wrong people at the wrong time. Nice to get time to job search though.

Do you know if any people are being told 'Why'?

VS

[bin There]

Many/Most of the nonrenawals will be due to financial cutbacks HR have been told to make - budget constraints mean HCT as a whole is cutting back, not just ADMC.

[secretsquirrel]

Ah, now it's clear ... that the expression "your department is going in a different direction" actually means that the whole HCT juggernaut has run off the road and is taking a downward trajectory!

Didn't we all know that anyway? And if it really is the case, the whole organisation having been messed up royally by Dr TK, those HCT staff who have been there for donkeys years should get out NOW.

The rumour that long-serving staff will be denied their sizable gratuities is gathering momentum, as the fiscal crises engendered by TK's corruption and poor (i.e., absent) management skills mean that they are looking to employ unscrupulous methods to help plug the deficit.

So bail out now, or lose out big!

[madrileno]

[helenl]

HCT has NEVER funded the gratuity, always depended on the bounty of the powers that be (ie. Abu Dhabi) to come through with the money. If Abu Dhabi suddenly decides that the $$ is not available, good luck to those with years invested in the system. Goodness knows Tubby won't be there to cover their backs.

I know a few who have left in the past 2 or 3 years (after more than a dozen) in order to guard their gratuity.

[veiledsentiments]

In theory, employees could take them to court. The gratuity is listed in the contract and IMHO, the courts would enforce it and the government would have to pay it. People have won these suits in the past.

As long as one has the patience to push it, since it will take perhaps years, the UAE does have strong contract law and the government has lost this type of case before... related to EFL teachers too.

That said, who wants to deal with this kind of stuff... I'd take my money and run before it gets to this.

VS

[BrownSauce]

I can only echo VS's sentiments above. There's still time to put in your notice and quit HCT at the end of the academic year.

Those who hang on any longer are playing a dangerous game, I would say - a foolish one, in fact.

[bin There]

[veiledsentiments]

Salary raises and merit pay are NOT in the contract. They are additional to the contract and thus are easy to back out of...

Gratuities are a strong contractual obligation in the Gulf countries' labor laws.

Salary raises and gratuities are NOT contractually equivalent at all.

They can try, but as I said... IMHO they would lose in court. It could quite easily be done as a group law suit as, for example, both of the major successful lawsuits with the Ministry of Defense related to the teachers.

VS

[bin There]

[2buckets]

You could take it to court, but you will be paying your own rent and living expenses for possibly years. That might be reimbursed, but probably not.

Who wants to take that chance.

Get out while the gettins' is good.

[D. Merit]

Does anyone know how many teachers this involves?

[veiledsentiments]