The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Mary Sheehy, a former diocesan secretary, over the termination of her employment by the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. The court held that her employment agreement could be ended on reasonable notice and upheld the High Court’s decision against her.
Sheehy argued that her employment was “permanent and pensionable” and that this entitled her to remain in the job until retirement age, except in limited circumstances. The Supreme Court judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Geoghegan on 9 April 2008, said the phrase did not establish a contractual right to a job for life or until age 65.
Sheehy began working for Bishop Lennon in July 1974, after holding a clerical post at Carlow Regional Technical College. The judgment recounts her evidence that Lennon had promised her work with equivalent security and salary protection, and that pension provision would be made. But it found that the discussions were loose and that no precise pension arrangements had been agreed.
A draft document prepared by Lennon referred to linking Sheehy’s salary to her existing post and making pension provision. A later draft by Bishop Ryan also referred to pension provision, but neither document said the employment could not be ended on reasonable notice. The Supreme Court considered the evidence sufficient to support the High Court’s finding that there was no express or implied promise of employment for life or until age 65.
The High Court had also accepted that there was genuine redundancy, but the Supreme Court said that was secondary: the contract was terminable on reasonable notice independently of the redundancy issue. It noted that Sheehy had pursued a common-law claim, while statutory remedies under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1967 or Redundancy Payments Act were available to her.
The court distinguished the House of Lords decision in McClelland v Northern Ireland General Health Services Board, which concerned detailed employment conditions specifying grounds for dismissal. Sheehy’s employment had no comparable written contract setting out exclusive grounds for termination. The court concluded that the general rule allowing termination of indefinite employment on reasonable notice applied, and dismissed the appeal.
The first-named respondent, Bishop Moriarty, had died before the appeal and was not a party to it; his personal representatives were not before the court. The second-named respondent, Bishop Ryan, was the only other party to the appeal.