Emma is going to handle her fame with aplomb, Aimée.

Damn well better. Or all my parenting will be for naught.

Hmm...

Thanks, folks. You're providing me with some much-needed perspective. I'm just So. Bleeding. Angry with the man right now that it's impacting upon my judgment somewhat.

Not meaning to bogart the thread totally, but how does this sound?

t bogarts thread

Dear Mr Evil Boss,

Thank you for your memo of 16th May.

I understand that you have decided against ratifying the contract that I signed last year, and that thus there is presently no contract of employment between The Evil School of Evil Town and myself. I was very surprised and sorry to hear that you preferred to disregard the contract, but I accept your decision that there is presently no legal relationship between us.

Thank you for your offer of a new ‘standard’ contract to cover the remainder of this year, and the offer of a renewal of said contract to cover next year. I appreciate this vote of confidence in my teaching, but unfortunately I find myself unable to sign any new contract with The Evil School. As I indicated to you prior to the memo, I have had a better offer. Following your memo I visited the British Embassy, consulted a lawyer and signed a legally binding contract with the new Hopefully Better School.

Subsequent to receiving your memo, it appears that you no longer consider that you have any legal obligation to continue paying my salary. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay the money for the initial two months of my work for The Evil School, which was held back on the understanding that it would be paid at the end of the contract. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay for the return ticket.

By the same token, I have no legal obligation to continue to teach the Year 3 class I have been working with for the past year. I have no legal obligation to continue carrying out assessments of their ability, no legal obligation to level their work, no legal obligation to work for hours after school planning lessons, writing the reports or attending parents’ meetings.

It was my full intention to do all of the above. However, it seems perfectly clear to me that you do not intend to pay me my full salary. If you did intend to honour the contract you would certainly have signed it, either when I gave it to you last year or when you looked at it recently. Instead you have made it explicit that you consider that you have no contractual obligations to me.

If this is the case, we need to resolve our present situation as soon as possible. I regret that I am unable to sign any new ‘standard’ contract with The Evil School, since you tell me that this would prevent me from working elsewhere in Cairo. I would be more than happy, however, to honour the contract that I signed with you last year if you would care to sign your copy. This would mean that I would be legally obliged to continue teaching, write reports, attend parents’ meetings and fulfil all the other reasonable teaching duties expected of staff. It would also give me the security of knowing that I would receive my salary in full at the end of my contract.

Alternatively I would be open to the idea of signing a short term contract specifically drawn up to cover the period between now and the end of term, provided that this contract included or was equivalent to the salary for August and September of 2003 as well as June and July 2005.

I have financial commitments to meet, and following your memo I have no confidence that I shall be able to meet them. I love my class and I hate the idea of placing them or any of my colleagues in a difficult position. I should be very sorry to have to leave precipitously, but I cannot afford to work for free. Nor do I wish to work illegally.

It would have been sensible to leave as soon as you told me that we have no binding contract, in order to secure paid work elsewhere for the rest of the Academic year and/or over the summer.

Rather than leave immediately, however, I have stayed at school long enough to level the children’s work and write their reports. I have also written the planning for the rest of this term and (continued...)

( continues...) for next year.

This is not my legal responsibility, since you have been at pains to tell me that I have no contractual obligations to The Evil School, but I feel it is my moral duty. I certainly do not want the children in my care to suffer any more than is absolutely necessary.

I very much hope that we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement that will enable me to teach my class until the end of June, and I wish you good luck with recruiting staff for next year.

Yours sincerely,

FayJay MA (Hons), AIEC

c.c. All parents & staff

Ginger is probably right. Although dreaming of the Evil Boss getting taken down by a mob of parents is quite lovely.

Well, the parents are already mad as hell at him, a lot of them. The mother of one of my kids spent a good fifteen minutes at the Fun Run on Friday telling me how much she despised Evil Boss, and how this was the worst British School she'd ever heard of, and how she was moving her 3 kids elsewhere next year. She had nothing but praise for me and my teaching, and she explicitly urged me and all the other teachers who are leaving this year to go and complain to the owners of the school, saying that if somebody didn't do something the wretched man was going to stay in power indefinitely.

And I still didn't tell her about this latest 'Look, No Contract!' stunt he's pulled. I mean, I couldn't disagree with what she was saying, but I didn't add any fuel to the fire. Although when she confided that a bunch of them had discussed attending the Fun Run with banners and big signs reading '[Name of Evil Boss] Out!' I did say "Oh, God, if only you had!"

I think I would send a shorter, briefer letter to parents and staff. something apologetic for leaving them in the lurch, but due to an administrive fuck up ( perhaps mix up ) you were no longer being paid and had to find other work.

Fay, you need to rewrite this bit:

Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay the money for the initial two months of my work for The Evil School, which was held back on the understanding that it would be paid at the end of the contract. Nor do you have any legal obligation to pay for the return ticket.

You claim that you also have no obligation,... You claim that you have no obligation.

Do not write a sentence that can be construed to mean that you think he has no obligation.

I was very surprised and sorry to hear that you preferred to disregard the contract, but I accept your decision that there is presently no legal relationship between us.

Fay, I really, really wouldn't say this. You don't know where this situation is going to go. This sentence here could plausibly negate any rights you do have to what you were promised.

If this is the case, we need to resolve our present situation as soon as possible. I regret that I am unable to sign any new ‘standard’ contract with The Evil School, since you tell me that this would prevent me from working elsewhere in Cairo. I would be more than happy, however, to honour the contract that I signed with you last year if you would care to sign your copy. This would mean that I would be legally obliged to continue teaching, write reports, attend parents’ meetings and fulfil all the other reasonable teaching duties expected of staff. It would also give me the security of knowing that I would receive my salary in full at the end of my contract.

This is an excellent addition, however.

Fay, I really, really wouldn't say this. You don't know where this situation is going to go. This sentence here could plausibly negate any rights you do have to what you were promised.

Yeah, Fay, as glorious as your sharply worded ire is, from a legal standpoint, the less you commit to paper the better. This might be the letter you write and don't send.

There's a shorter and simpler letter to send if you don't get paid.

I would definitely relay your situation to the parent who has removed her children from the school. From a strategic POV you want to marshall your support before things explode.

Fay, if you'll indulge me for a moment, might I suggest the following? Roughly:

Dear Mr Evil Boss,

Thank you for your memo of 16th May.

I understand that you have decided against ratifying the contract that I signed last year, and that thus you presently consider there to be no contract of employment between The Evil School of Evil Town and myself. I was very surprised and sorry to hear that you preferred to disregard the contract.

Having neglected to sign the contract, it appears that you no longer consider that you have any legal obligation to continue paying my salary, the money for the initial two months of my work for The Evil School, which was held back on the understanding that it would be paid at the end of the contract, or to provide the return ticket as outlined in the contract. Since I and Evil School have both acted in good faith in fulfilling the terms of the contract up until this point, I do not belive this to be this to be the case. Howver, if indeed there were no legal relationship between Evil School and myself, I would then have no legal obligation to continue to teach the Year 3 class I have been working with for the past year, and no obligation to carry out assessments of their ability, level their work, prepare lessons, write reports or attend parents’ meetings.

Obviously, this situation is not satisfacory to anyone, and it was my full intention to do all of the above. Clearly we need to resolve our present situation as soon as possible.

I do thank you for your offer of a new ‘standard’ contract to cover the remainder of this year, and the offer of a renewal of said contract to cover next year, and I appreciate this vote of confidence in my teaching.

As I indicated to you prior to the memo, I have accepted an offer from another employer. Following your memo I visited the British Embassy, consulted a lawyer and signed a legally binding contract with the new Hopefully Better School. Since you tell me that this would prevent me from working elsewhere in Cairo, I am unable to sign any new ‘standard’ contract with The Evil School.

I would be more than happy, however, to honour the contract that I signed with you last year if you would care to sign your copy. This would mean that I would be legally obliged to continue teaching, write reports, attend parents’ meetings and fulfil all the other reasonable teaching duties expected of staff. It would also give me the security of knowing that I would receive my salary in full at the end of my contract.

Alternatively I would be open to the idea of signing a short term contract specifically drawn up to cover the period between now and the end of term, provided that this contract included or was equivalent to the salary for August and September of 2003 as well as June and July 2005.

I have financial commitments to meet, and following your memo I have no confidence that I shall be able to meet them. I love my class and I hate the idea of placing them or any of my colleagues in a difficult position. I should be very sorry to have to leave precipitously, but I cannot afford to work for free. Nor do I wish to work illegally.

I very much hope that we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement that will enable me to teach my class until the end of June, and I wish you good luck with recruiting staff for next year.

Yours sincerely,

FayJay MA (Hons), AIEC

Fay, chiming in with Brenda, Hec, and Betsy.

In fact, I think I'd want all that reworded in the "You refuse to honor your obligation to..." and put the whole thing in a framework of: "Despite the fact that you failed to uphold your obligation to sign the contract with which you presented me, and which I signed in a timely manner and have been upholding for X months"

In other words, I would frame the whole discussion as "We had a deal. I've been abiding that deal. Now that we've come to then end of the deal by which we've been abiding for X months, you are renegging."

Cool.

Cheers, Brenda!

eta

Whoops! And Cindy. And Hec, and everyone else. Very much appreciated.

Will try hard to remain rational.