Both sides in a dispute over school attendance officers said yesterday they were "surprised" and "confused" by each other's actions.
Some 36 former school attendance officers are not enforcing truancy laws because they say the National Educational Welfare Board has not appointed them as educational welfare officers under the new Education Act.
There are some outstanding issues over pay and grading but their union, IMPACT, has said workers are happy to take on their new roles while these issues are being resolved.
However, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) said the officers had been employed by the new board since last July.
Dr Ann Louise Gilligan, board chairwoman, said the board had been "fully co-operative" in addressing the concerns of the former school attendance officers and was "surprised" at the work stoppage.
"The board dealt with their claim to become educational welfare officers in a very proactive way and in accordance with the established procedures," she said. Dr Gilligan called for "immediate clarification" from IMPACT.
Yesterday, IMPACT spokesman Mr Bernard Harbor said the board was aware of the difficulty since the the middle of last year, "so the idea that they are surprised is a nonsense".
"By the end of last year, we accepted the suggestion that this would go to the Labour Court, and we said that, in the meantime, school attendance officers should be appointed as education welfare officers without prejudice to the outcome.
"But for some reason there is a confusing reluctance on the board's part to do this," he said.
IMPACT secretary for educational services Mr Al Butler said its members would love to do their job but they did not have the legal authority because they had not been appointed.
He said he could not understand the NEWB's actions and asked if funding or other industrial relations issues might explain its reluctance to bring the school attendance officers on board.
