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On 7/04/13, Jasmin wrote:

> Hello, just curious, I have an "open vacancy" for a music

> teacher position. We were going to hire someone to teach

> only 3 classes per week. The applicant I want to hire is of

> course a licensed music teacher and has a lot of

> experience. Should I be concerned that after 30 days of

> teaching she might file a salary grievance against me? If

> it is only 3 classes per week should I be concerned?

I agree with the previous poster... it should not be a problem
if the specifics of this position (number of classes, salary,
working conditions, etc) are spelled out in the contract,
which they should be.

You should be very upfront about this. In other words it is
not just in the fine print, it's right out there in bold, and
discussed.... when we have an opening like this, the position
is clearly advertised as such, so that applicants are aware of
the situation even before the interview.

Where I am, if this had been unclear in the job posting (i.e.
it looked like a full-time position and was not), we would
probably have to re-post the position with clearer details and
then re-interview. There are several issues involved. The
obvious one is the one you seem to be alluding to, that a
person who is not aware of the specifics upon hire is likely
to be dissatisfied (rightly) with it later and (rightfully)
file a grievance. It's also possible there are applicants who
would be interested in three classes per week, who would NOT
have applied for a full-time position, too. So you need to
make this very clear from the beginning so that you attract
the relevant candidates, hire the best candidate who accepts
the conditions spelled out, and go from there.

One further comment... if your local union contract
specifically states that you can't have a position like you've
described (that her salary or teaching load can't be that low,
or whatever), that's another issue. Even if your candidate is
happy with the situation, you still can't violate the
contract. There are also issues such as benefits, etc, which
may apply to such a position differently from a full-time one.

If you are an administrator in a district that has a central
office with an HR person, I would definitely recommend that
you also discuss this situation with the HR person. You don't
want any of this to be a surprise later, either to the
candidate herself, to you, or to your central office.

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