Teaching Contract Changed

[mpmccoy]

Hello,

I was called into the super intendents office today and was told that they had made a mistake on my signed and agreed upon contract. He said that I was erreroneously placed on Step 7 of the salary scale when I was suppose to be placed on Step 2. He said that he was going to lower my income for the rest of the school year to reflect the amount of salary I was suppose to be making on Step 2. Is it legal to change the salary stated on the contract that was signed and agreed to during the middle of the school year? I thought that once you signed a contract that it had to be fullfilled unless both parties agreed to change it.

He also said that I was lucky that he caught this mistake now because if it would have been later in the year I would have had to pay back the extra money that they had given me! I couldnt believe my ears. I was thinking to myself, is this actually happening or am I dreaming. Please help me figure out this problem and help me figure out if I have a case against the administration. I do not think what they are doing is legal and I want to know for sure.

 

[army judge]

Usually once signed and accepted, a contract can't unilaterally be changed by one party for what could be termed a clerical error. Contact your teacher's union attorney, you have at a minimum a grievance. You might have an actionable suit, but might not get renewed next year, but you need a lawyer from your area ASAP.


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[jharris352]

I would tend to agree with Armyjudge on this one. You knew probably knew you were getting a salary that your seniority level did not deserve and therefore you did not really have an enforceable contract you were benefiting from a clerical error. Teacher salaries are driven by a fairly ridged seniority scale which means that you likely knew or should have known that step 7 was not your proper level. In essence that means that you were "stealing" the excess salary in the eyes of the law. It's like getting change for $100 bill when you know you only gave the clerk a $20 and then complaining when they ask for the extra back. If you go to court they are just going to say that you knew that was the wrong salary level and that you can not benefit from an honest mistake.

You are seriously lucky that they did not ask you to repay the salary that you have thus far received and were not owed. If you mess around in this much they probably will come after you for the overpayment. Right now they probably don't want anyone to know they made such a silly mistake so they are correcting it and sweeping it under the rug. If you make a stink about it and everything comes to light, they will be under pressure to recover the money. I would leave well enough alone.

 

[Thressa]

Yeh I totally agreed to Jhariss352

 

[irish223]

I agree with jharris. Also..... If your contract falls under a negotiated agreement between a school district and a union, then the superintendent was most likely correct in changing your salary unless you have 7 years of previous experience. It is against the terms of most contracts to place new employees at a level higher than years of experience.

 

[Patricia_Young]

Of course, assuming that this post is nearly three months old, I'm sure the situation has been resolved by now.

Thressa, you have been told several times to stop posting to dead threads.