The High Court upheld the Labour Court’s finding that Anne Boyle was employed by the Minister for Education for the purposes of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001, but ruled that the Labour Court could not order her admission to the National Teachers Superannuation Scheme. It remitted the compensation question to the Labour Court for reconsideration.
Ms Boyle had worked 15 hours a week as the sole teacher at a grant-aided preschool for Traveller children for more than 20 years, until it closed in 2011. The Department funded 98% of her salary through a grant to the preschool’s management committee. The committee managed the school and exercised day-to-day control, while the Department set her pay and conditions.
In 2009, Ms Boyle complained that she was treated less favourably than a full-time teacher because she was not admitted to the teachers’ pension scheme. A Rights Commissioner rejected her claim against the Department, finding it was not her employer under the Act. The Labour Court overturned that decision in 2012. It found that the Minister was her employer for the claim and that she and her chosen full-time comparator did work of equal value. The Labour Court directed that she be admitted to the pension scheme from September 2008 and awarded €10,000 compensation.
The Minister sought judicial review, arguing that Ms Boyle’s employment contract was with the management committee, that the Labour Court had wrongly applied earlier case law, and that the pension scheme order exceeded its powers. Ms Boyle argued that judicial review was improper because the Minister had also brought a statutory appeal on a point of law. The High Court proceeded to decide the judicial review, accepting the Minister’s stated reason for pursuing both routes: the issue had wider significance and the statutory appeal could not be taken further to the Supreme Court.
Justice Iseult O’Malley held that the employment role was split. School management handled hiring, discipline, dismissal and daily direction, while the Department set and paid salaries. For the purposes of the 2001 Act, publicly funded teachers were to be treated as employed by the Minister. The judge said Ms Boyle’s work in a preschool rather than a recognised or national school did not itself prevent her from seeking redress. The Labour Court’s finding that she did comparable work and had been treated less favourably was not challenged in the judicial review.
However, the court held that the Labour Court’s powers did not extend to ordering admission to a statutory pension scheme with its own qualifying conditions, including apparent contribution requirements. It found the €10,000 award was not unlawful or irrational, but remitted the matter so the Labour Court could reconsider compensation in light of the invalid pension direction. The court did not determine the parties’ arguments about the EU directive, finding it unnecessary to do so.