Hi, hope you don't mind me joining...

[Davey B]

Hello all,

I hope you don't mind me joining this forum, as I'm not a solicitor, but a newly appointed union workplace & safety rep on my site, who is looking to improve their skills?

However, I do have some background in legal services, as an outdoor clerk/caseworker in private practice for the Family Division matters, and also as a freelance accredited police station representative mainly dealing with the organised and serious end of the market in London, many moons ago.

Currently, I'm in a little bit of a dispute with my employers over a local agreement for attending meetings which used to be a flat rate of 4 hours. This all worked fine as it would recognise the many unpaid hours that union rep undertakes to improve working conditions that ultimately benefit the employer and employee alike.

The employer has decided to take a literal interpretation of the Facilities Agreement that is in place and refers to payment for "actual time spent".

I'm fine with the fact that they wish to adopt a literal interpretation in relation to "Union Duties".

Yesterday, I received, replied to and composed 35 emails, which took over 4 hours. These were mostly routine things relating to, but all take time to research relevant information and reply to;

Payment when sick during statutory leave.
Payment for undertaking training outside of normal working hours.
Et cetera

Normally, I would just write these emails off, as I am happy to improve our working environment. However, my employer has focused me on the Facilities Agreement and how I should now approach it. If they wish been charged by the minute, then so be it.

I am just wondering if there is a minimum time spent on every email? I seem to recollect that the firms I worked with would have a minimum block of 6 minutes for any email/letter that came in or went out.

Can anyone provide me with the current structure for remuneration in the above in relation to email correspondence? Obviously, I am only interested in time spent and not actual money charged.

Thanks for your help and have a lovely weekend.

Davey

[Sam101]

Welcome to the forum and I do hope that you learn from it by looking at the various forum areas, as the welcome forum is mainly just for that.

As for your question, which others will be able to help with far more than myself, you are tending to look for areas that can always be disputed as E-mails can very to a great degree and some can take considerable time to reply to let alone digest and understand what has been written.

If I may suggest, spend your time just trying to do your very best for whoever you work for and not just look at time and effort compared to pay. In some instances this may cost you and in others it may cost the company.

The company is looking for employees that are prepared to work hard and will then be seen as doing so. Think of the longer term, when you have learned a lot more. After all, is your value to the firm greater than someone who have been there twice as long as you or for several years?

Costing needs to be balanced out and if you try and question your time against reward at this time, you may find that you are considered someone who is not prepared to work more than they need to.

Hopefully you may receive more replies, some of which will say don't work harder than you need to. Only you can improve your future. Good luck.

[atticus]

I suggest that as a starting point you keep a record of the time that you actually spend on these duties, so that you can in due course present your case supported by evidence.

[echat11]

I think ULA may have knowledge on this matter.

[ULA]

Without seeing your facilities agreement, I cannot comment on specifics, however as a general principle the agreement will set out the reasonable paid time off your employer is prepared to give you, with no loss of earnings, to carry out your union duties which appear from your post are related specifially to workplace health and safety.

Generally most agreements cover the duties for which union reps are entitled to paid time off which are :

• trade union duties related to collective bargaining, on issues like: terms and conditions of employment; redundancies; job evaluation; family friendly policies; discipline; trade union facilities; and negotiating machinery
• Individual representation
• meetings with management and preparation for these meetings
• keeping members informed about negotiations.

I presume that in your agreement there is provision for dealing with emails specific to the area of health and safety. So, firstly you need to ensure that you confine your union activities to these areas and if people are coming to you with queries related to issues outside of these, then you need to direct then to another union rep or to the main union office.

The scenario you have detailed in relation to 6 minute units is what is the charging mechanism used by the majoity of law firms for solicitor time, unless they are operating a fixed fee for the work they are doing. I would suggest this is not an appropriate way of trying to conduct yourself as you need to be specific about the actual amount of time you are spending and what the agreement allows for in dealing with area specific correspondence.