Two academics at Oxford University employed on gig-economy style contracts for 15 years have won a claim over their employee status.
Authors Rebecca Abrams and Alice Jolly taught the university’s creative writing Master’s course on fixed-term, “personal services” contracts.
They claimed that the terms of these contracts meant they were employees, and as such should be entitled to workplace rights such as holiday pay.
An employment tribunal has upheld that they should have been classed as employees, and a further hearing will be held to assess the implications of this ruling, which could have wider impacts across UK academia.
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In the ruling, Employment Judge Read noted a power imbalance between precariously employed tutors and the University of Oxford.
His judgment described how the tutors are not simply guest lecturers or speakers but are held to be full members of staff, with their biographies included in the student handbook.
A recent report by academics’ union UCU found that 66% of research staff are on precarious or insecure contracts.
The ruling in favour of Abrams and Jolly could help to secure better contracts for lecturers across UK universities, lawyers argue.
David Graham, co-founder of Law for Change, which supported the academics’ case, said: “The Law for Change fund is proud to have supported Alice and Rebecca’s successful challenge standing up for better contract rights for university lecturers.
“Our mission is to back legal actions that have a clear social benefit and the continuing erosion of lecturers’ employment rights in higher education institutions is an area Law for Change is particularly concerned about.
“This positive outcome for the claimants will not only secure better contract rights for lecturers at Oxford University but also help others working under exploitative contracts across the academic community.”
Leigh Day solicitor Ryan Bradshaw, who represented Abrams and Jolly, added: “This is an important case that highlights the need for higher education providers to review and rethink their treatment of precariously employed staff.
“It is not acceptable for these institutions to continue to seek to avoid their legal obligations. The gig economy has no place in our universities.”
Commenting on the ruling, Jolly said Oxford remained close to her heart as she had studied there, but explained her reasons for the action.
“I simply cannot understand why the university has spent four years (at huge cost) trying to silence me and Rebecca when they knew all along that the contracts are a sham,” she said.
“This legal action is not about our personal circumstances. It is about the future of higher education and also about the status of writers who teach in universities.”
Abrams added that the continued casualisation of academics’ contracts was a “race to the bottom”.
“This ruling is a vindication of everything we’ve been fighting for since 2018. Alice and I are skilled professionals teaching at one of the world’s top universities, yet we’ve been employed year after year on sham contracts that have denied us our employment rights and legal protections.
“With nearly 70 per cent of its teaching staff on precarious contracts, Oxford is one of the worst offenders, but this is an issue that extends across UK higher education.
“Casualisation is a race to the bottom – bad for teachers, bad for students, and bad for universities. I hope this ruling will encourage an urgently needed reboot in the way universities treat the teachers on whom they rely.”
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