A factory worker who switched to permanent employment with his employer one month before the end of his last temporary employment contract has secured almost €38,000 for unfair dismissal and breach of his rights as a fixed-term employee, reports RTE.
The Workplace Relations Commission found that there was “a lack of a solid awareness” of the rights of permanent-term workers at DuPont Nutrition Ireland, trading as FMC International, which led to the sacking of employee Aidan Cody after three years on a rolling contract.
Cody told the Workplace Relations Commission that he believed he was “last to know” about job vacancies when they became available a month before his last contract ended and was only told to “keep coming in” when he applied for an extension.
In a ruling today, the Employment Tribunal upheld Mr Cody’s claims against the company under the Unfair Dismissal Act 1977 and the Employment Protection (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003 but dismissed them.
The tribunal heard the applicant’s last contract ended in May 2021, just over three years after he started work at the plant as a production operator and his overtime earnings were €8,167 a month for 60 hours a week.
In March this year, Mr Coady was one of three internal candidates who applied for four vacancies at the plant – which were eventually filled by two other internal candidates and two external workers, the tribunal heard.
Shortly before entering into the Agreement on May 17, 2021, Mr Cody filed a grievance regarding his impending termination of employment.
The complainant said the permanent job he was applying for “had not been advertised internally” but he posted his CV after learning about it.
Laura Madden BL, acting for the employer of Ronan Daly Jermyn Solicitors, said this was a purposive justification for the use of fixed-term contracts and termination of employment.
Barrister Sarah Daly BL, acting for the applicant for Katharina White Solicitors, said their client “never advised in writing as to the objective justification for offering him a fixed-term contract”, reports RTE.
The decision to terminate the employment of her client was made without presenting grounds for termination or an opportunity to appeal, Ms Daly added.
In her decision, adjudicating officer Patsy Doyle wrote that the three contract documents submitted had “no mention” of secondment insurance, which was the employer’s “core” argument.
“It is regrettable that the respondent did not convey that in writing at the material time or at any time in the tenure,” she wrote – noting a Labour Court law which had established that renewing a fixed-term contract to cover a staff absence was “too vague and equivocal”, reports RTE.
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