Case Number: FTD222. Labour Court

• Judgment Date: 01 July 2022
• Docket Number: FTD222
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Court: Labour Court (Ireland)

FULL RECOMMENDATION; FTC/22/26; ADJ-00006712 CA-00009094-002/003/004 DETERMINATION NO. FTD222 ; SECTION 15 (1), PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEES (FIXED-TERM WORK) ACT, 2003 ; PARTIES : BLACKROCK COLLEGE; (REPRESENTED BY ALEX WHITE, S.C., INSTRUCTED BY MASON HAYES & CURRAN SOLICITORS); - AND -; VALERIE COYLE; (REPRESENTED BY PETER LEONARD, B.L. INSTRUCTED BY PC MOORE & CO SOLICITORS); DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Haugh Employer Member: Ms Doyle Worker Member: Mr Bell ; SUBJECT : 1. Appeal Of Adjudication Officer Recommendation No ADJ-00006712.; BACKGROUND : 2. This is an appeal of an adjudication officer's recommendation under Section 15 (1) of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003. The Labour Court held a case management conference on 5 January 2022. Further hearing dates took place on 22 and 23rd of March 2022 with a concluding hearing on 5 July 2022. The following is the Determination of the Court.; DETERMINATION : Background to the Appeal: This is an appeal on behalf of Blackrock College (‘the Respondent’) from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ- 00006712, dated 14 December 2017) under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-term Work) Act 2003 (‘the Act’). The Respondent’s appeal was previously determined by a differently constituted Division of this Court. Determination number FTD183, issued on 5 June 2018, was successfully appealed to the High Court on a point of law by Ms Valerie Coyle (‘the Complainant’). By Order dated 11 February 2020, Meenan J remitted the matter to this Court for rehearing. The Court held a case management conference on 5 January 2022 and proceeded to hear the appeal over three days, on 22 and 23 March 2022 and 5 July 2022. Extensive written and oral submissions were made on behalf of both Parties and the Court heard the sworn evidence of the Complainant and of Mr Alan MacGinty for the Respondent.; The Factual Matrix: The Complainant is an art teacher and has been employed by the Respondent in that capacity since 1984, initially on a part-time basis and, since 1988, in a full-time capacity. The Complainant is not entitled to be registered with the Teaching Council as she does not possess a Higher Diploma in Education or a Professional Master’s in Education degree. Her salary has, therefore, been directly funded at all material times by the Respondent itself and not by the Department of Education. The Complainant successfully completed the Technical Schools Examinations in the early 1980s. This qualified her to teach art on a part-time basis. She subsequently – and at her own expense – completed a primary degree in art at the Institute for Art, Design and Technology in Dun Laoghaire, on a part-time basis between 2008 and 2012. The Complainant receives her agreed annual salary over the nine months of the academic year (September to May) and signs on for social welfare benefits for the summer months. The Complainant was employed pursuant to a series of fixed-term contracts. Written fixed-term contracts signed by the Complainant were exhibited in the papers before the Court for the following academic years: 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04. In October 2004, the Complainant received and signed a written contract that was open-ended and contained no termination date but did make provision for a normal retirement age of sixty-five. The Respondent’s management structure changed in 2005 when the first Board of Management assumed office in place of the unitary management arrangement that had previously applied. The Chairman of the new Board issued a one-year fixed-term contract of employment to Complainant and a number of other colleagues for the academic year 2005-06. The Complainant has not been issued with any other written contract since then. The Complainant referred a number of claims under the Act to the Workplace Relations Commission on 16 January 2017 alleging breaches of sections 6, 8, 9 and 10 of the Act. The Adjudication Officer upheld the claims under sections 6, 8 and 9 but not under section 10. The Adjudication Officer directed the Respondent to provide the Complainant with a contract of indefinite duration effective from June 2007 on an annual salary of 49,333.33 and to pay compensation of E5,000.00 for the breaches of section 8 that had occurred. The Respondent appealed...