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UCC loses an appeal to the High Court in a case dealing with how fixed-term contract workers are treated
UCC loses an appeal to the High Court in a case dealing with how fixed-term contract workers are treated
University College Cork has lost an appeal to the High Court in a case dealing how staff on fixed-term contracts are treated.
In a ruling issued this morning, the High Court upheld a Labour Court decision to direct the college to make an ex-gratia payment to a fixed-term worker who had been made redundant.
Dr Naomi Bushin was employed as a full-time researcher on an EU-funded project between 2006 and 2009. When the contract came to an end she was made redundant. She received her statutory redundancy entitlement.
At the Labour Court, Dr Bushin argued that in not receiving an ex-gratia payment from UCC that she was treated less favourably than a comparable permanent employee.
Legislation on fixed-term employment obliges employers to treat permanent and temporary workers on an equal basis.
Last year, the Labour Court sided with Dr Bushin and ordered the college to pay her an ex-gratia payment of four weeks per year of service on top of her statutory redundancy entitlement.
UCC appealed this decision to the High Court but today Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns ruled that the Labour Court had not erred. UCC had argued that because it had not made any permanent employees redundant, there was no comparable permanent employee.
The High Court said the Labour Court was correct in finding as an appropriate comparison other permanent employees within the wider third level sector.
The outcome has been welcomed by the Irish Federation of University Teachers, which represents academics at third level.
The union said UCC had wasted public funds in pursuing this case. It said the final cost was multiples of what the contested payment to Dr Bushin actually was.
IFUT said today's outcome would have immediate positive implications for other third-level workers in similar situations.
(Source: RTE website)