Refusing salaried employees access to their workplace, and then docking their pay, is a disgraceful practice, according to Úna Dunphy of People Before Profit, but that is what the Waterford and Wexford ETB have been doing. There are nationally agreed procedures set out by the Department of Education and Skills, but many ETBs ignore them and treat teachers and special needs assistants appallingly.
As one of five ETBs which are currently the subject of Garda enquiries, the WWETB, and its Chief Executive, Kevin Lewis, formerly of Kildare Wicklow ETB, might be expected to be extra careful. However, the Chief Executive and his staff are enthusiastic users of Medmark, a medical business run by the brother of Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan, to harass and hound teachers and other employees while denying them their rights.
If ETBs need to refer anyone to the Occupational Health Service, they should notify Medmark, and allow the company to deal with the employee. ETBs routinely use Discretionary Referrals to make appointments for employees with Medmark and order them to attend, which is improper and abusive. Employees are usually told that they can’t come back to work in the meantime, and should get a doctor to give them a sick cert, when they are, in fact, fit to work. Punishing those who won’t cooperate, by deciding they are absent without leave and cutting their salary, is common practice, and totally unjustified and wrong.
The scheme allows for Discretionary Referrals to Medmark which involve the Chief Executive making a medical judgement, and should only be used when there is clear evidence that the employee cannot safely carry out his/her duties. The use of this power to deal with employees who are seen as insubordinate or troublemakers is a far too common practice.
The use of Medmark as an enforcer by educational managements is a well-established strategy. This is the company that decided that, while workers at HIGH RISK during the pandemic should be cocooning, teachers must be in a new category of VERY HIGH RISK to be allowed to work from home. ETBs use this policy to force vulnerable teachers in mainstream post primary schools, into unsafe classrooms, while they want as many as possible of their teachers in Further Education Colleges to teach on-line.
The Minister for Education and Skills cannot evade responsibility when procedures issued by her Department are ignored and abused all over the country. She must see to it, says Úna Dunphy, that professional public servants are treated fairly, and the abuse by ETBs is halted.
