UGent temporary contracts could take millions to settle
Ghent University could be facing a bill of €120 million to settle claims from employees who were not given the contracts they were entitled to
Breach of labour laws
Bankruptcy is maybe an exaggeration, others say. But the university is in the middle of a situation wherein it has to make amends to about 1,700 employees who were entitled to permanent contracts but were instead given temporary contracts that were repeatedly extended. In the Schamper article, employees complain that, despite their repeated requests, nothing has been done about the situation.
Pauline, one of the employees quoted, says she has been working for more than 10 years from one contract to another, while Eva had to leave her job after 13 years of consecutive short-term contracts. That left her without any certainty about her severance pay.
Not only is this causing frustration for the employees involved, it’s not in line with Belgian labour legislation. According to a 1978 law, this type of temporary contract must be extended indefinitely after two years.
Negotiations continue
The employees who were denied permanent contracts also missed out on considerable retirement benefits, which have been granted since 2000 to staff with a permanent contract. This distinction is at odds with the anti-discrimination law, which has been in place since 2003, because people performing the same jobs are being given different pay and different rights. Some of the people involved have already been to court and successfully claimed their benefits.
The people concerned are mostly scientific or administrative technical staff. The scientific staff in particular depend on concrete projects as well as public and private funding. This could explain to some extent the temporary character of their contracts.
UGent is not contesting the allegations. The university’s press officer, Stephanie Lenoir, says in De Standaard that they are looking for a solution. “The negotiations are ongoing,” she says “but obviously this will be an expensive matter.”
She also explains that if they continue to work out the current proposition, meaning they would deal with the claims retroactively, “we are possibly talking about €120 million, an amount the university hasn’t got lying around.” Moreover, like other universities, UGent faces severe cutbacks in government funding; in its case, €14 million.
Photo courtesy VRT
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Ghent University
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