Re: PhD positions at Leicester, UK

[David Yetter <dyetter@ksu.edu>]

As the saying goes Americans and the British are two peoples united by the Atlantic Ocean and divided by a common language.  Simona Paoli wrote to me privately to clarify that in British usage "compulsory redundancy" is not firing, which in British usage applies only to dismissal for cause.

Over on my side of the pond "fired" is ambiguous, including both dismissal for cause and the analogue of British compulsory redundancy, while "laid off" (the term used in David Roberts's post) at least sometimes implies the possibility of being recalled to the same job.  Differences in language and employment law make things hard to communicate precisely, but I wanted to make clear that the circumstances were more dire than what Americans might read in hearing of "lay-offs".

I really wish our budget circumstances at K-State were better so I could advocate hiring mathematicians from U. Leicester with some hope of success.  Anyone on this list whose university is bucking the global trend and actually able to hire new faculty (academic staff) despite the pandemic should be  advocating doing just that.

Best Thoughts,
David Yetter



________________________________
From: simona.paoli@virgilio.it <simona.paoli@virgilio.it>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2021 2:36 PM
To: David Yetter <dyetter@ksu.edu>
Subject: Re: categories: Re: PhD positions at Leicester, UK

This email originated from outside of K-State.


Dear David,

   being made compulsory redundant and being fired are completely different things in the UK from the point of you of the employment law and chances of  finding another job. Although both means losing one's job, being fired (technically called 'dismissal') in the UK is the result of underperformance or having done something wrong from the part of the employee. Not so in the case of compulsory redundancy. In a country like the UK where there is no tenure this difference is very important.
Of course we all agree that what the University of Leicester has done is crazy, sickening and immoral-- those of us affected have had our lifes turned  upside down.

I appreciate you wrote your email to help, but I would also like to ask you  not to tell people that we have been fired, but rather that we have lost our jobs, for the reasons above. But the crucial thing for those of us who are lost our job is to remain scientifically active while making job applications to find academic jobs somewhere else, which is what we all want to do.

Any support from the category theory community to keep us connected is extremely valuable and appreciated. I remain emplou
yed at Leicester until 10 August 2021, but people can always reach me at this personal email.

Best wishes,
Simona.




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