Using Leeds Metropolitan University as a primary example of how much management actually misunderstood the NMW regulations it can be seen that not only were staff being overcharged for accommodation – they were also being vastly underpaid for the long hours that they work in halls of residence.

The Residential Officer position is one that is not taken lightly by those in the Residential Officer team. At one halls of residence alone, student residents over the last two years have been involved in cases of attempted suicides, self harm, drink and drugs overdoses, assaults, muggings, rapes, burglaries, countless false fire alarms, and several actual fires in student flats.

The Residential Officer team members need to be versatile in their approach to the position, they combine counselling and welfare skills, with a need to maintain discipline on behalf of the student’s landlord – their employer Leeds Metropolitan University. Residential Officer team members are regularly called upon to counsel students who may be suffering from depression, anxiety and countless other adolescent mental health issues. They serve as arbitrators at inter-tenant disputes, and are in charge of student discipline within the halls of residence.

Listening to Residential Officer team members recall incidents that have occurred in one halls of residence alone is enough to put most people off of doing the job forever. Residential Officer team members have been physically attacked – one team member having his nose broken, they are constantly swore at, and have been spat upon by an increasingly aggressive student population. No other university staff are treated in this way, and if they were there would be an uproar.

So why did Residential Officer team members not get the minimum wage? The legal argument is complex, but it seems to be centred around the fact that Residential Officer team members use the flats that they live in as their work places. There has not yet been a NMW legal case where this is the argument, and the present dispute between Unison backed Residential Officer team members and Leeds Metropolitan University may set a precedent in the UK to cover such cases.

Section 15 from ‘Statutory Instruments 1999 No. 584 - The National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999’ states the following:

‘In addition to time when a worker is working, time work includes time when a worker is available at or near a place of work, other than his home, for the purpose of doing time work and is required to be available for such work except that, in relation to a worker who by arrangement sleeps at or near a place of work, time during the hours he is permitted to sleep shall only be treated as being time work when the worker is awake for the purpose of working.’

The above NMW regulations state that workers who are ready and available for work, but at home are not required to be paid the NMW for the time they spend at the ready at home, however the Residential Officer team situation is peculiar and one where their flat / room becomes their workplace when they are on duty.

It was successfully argued by Residential Officer team members that their flats are to be treated as places of work when they are on duty, and that they should be paid the NMW for the hours spent on duty in and around their flats.

Residential Officer team members were required by their contracts to be in residence and on duty five nights per week. This duty time was arranged into duty rotas so on average they worked five full nights over two weeks and 48 hours over every other weekend. They were available for work any time within these periods. They concede that as according to the NMW regulations that they should not be paid for time spent sleeping, but that their flats / rooms are to be treated as places of work for the purposes of the act.

Curbs placed upon a Residential Officer team member to be on site during his duty days were such that he was at work the entire night. When on duty a Residential Officer team member does not leave site as stipulated by the university management. He is at the ready to deal with fire alarms at a moments notice - they even arrange clothes next to their beds in case of such emergencies. Senior Residential Officers and Residential Officers have fire alarm repeaters in their flats - once again enforcing the formality of the workplace into their residences. Residential Officers do not drink when on duty - once again indicating that their time is not their own, but their employers, for example during quiet periods time is spent at home listening for noise, and when it is heard it has to be dealt with, such is their remit.

To support their argument that their flats are to be treated as places of work when on duty Residential Officer team members stated the following:

• Their flats / rooms are open to students who want to come and discuss problems or issues.

• Their flats / rooms are the only private place that Residential Officers have to communicate with students (they had no office of their own).

• Paperwork is kept within their flats.

• Residential Officer meetings are held within their flats, as are meetings between parties involved in inter tenant disputes and counselling sessions with students.

• They take repair notices and complaints within their flats / rooms.

• Most Residential Officer business is indeed carried out within these premises.

• Their flat telephone numbers are listed in the university directory as work contact numbers.

• They organise maintenance from their flats at evenings and weekends.

A UNISON Success Story at LMU

The Unison backed Residential Officer team members used the above points to successfully illustrate that the formality of the workplace was imposed on their residences within their duty hours.

Their argument that they were time workers and should be paid for all time when they were not sleeping is that they themselves conformed to university regulations for living in halls i.e. they are the visible face of the university within halls (at any time of day) and set the standards as to how tenants should behave e.g. they do not play ball games on site. In essence they have a high profile, and a high-pressure job. If they are in contact with students they are at work – this is the responsibility that they have.

Residential Officers at Leeds Metropolitan University struck a settlement with LMU management in September 2001. This settlement ensured that all Residential Officer team members were back paid for the work that they had done, payments ranged from £2,500 - £10,500 for the 21 members of the Residential Officer team. As part of this settlement the following entitlements were also granted:

· Sick pay.
· Holiday pay.
· Improved working hours.
· Realistic APT&C pay scales reflecting the seniority of their positions.
· Email and internet access for staff at each site.

Victory - Jubilant Residential Officers and Unison Branch Secretary Brian Bolton celebrate with their back-pay

Other Higher Education Institutions

It is well known that other HE institutions across the UK were watching developments at LMU very carefully. This case case certainly has ramifications for the entire HE sector where staff live and work in residences. The failings of management at other HE institutions to observe NMW law could result in large fines, it is a hope of UNISON at LMU that this case will lead to workers living and working in residences at other HE institutions being treated as fairly as their co-workers.

If you would like further information about this case please email LMU UNISON Branch Secretary Brian Bolton on b.bolton@lmu.ac.uk.

How we did it - UNISON Focus article.