The High Court has refused to order National University of Ireland, Maynooth to restore the employment arrangements of research fellow Dr Ann Buckley while a separate Labour Court dispute remained pending.
Dr Buckley had worked in the university's Department of Music under two successive fixed-term contracts funded through grants from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her first contract ran from October 2003 for three years. A second two-year contract expired on September 30th, 2008.
In November 2007, Dr Buckley claimed that the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 entitled her to a contract of indefinite duration. A Rights Commissioner agreed in August 2008 and awarded her €5,000 compensation. NUI Maynooth appealed that decision to the Labour Court and notified her that her position would end by reason of redundancy when the fixed-term contract expired.
During the Labour Court proceedings, the university continued paying Dr Buckley for a period. There was later a dispute over whether it had undertaken to preserve the wider status quo. It stopped paying her from January 12th, 2009. On January 22nd, locks on her university office were changed while she was away at lunchtime, preventing her from returning to it.
Dr Buckley sought High Court injunctions restraining termination of her employment, requiring continued remuneration and preventing interference with her role as Senior Research Fellow.
Mr Justice Roderick Murphy refused the applications. He held that the Rights Commissioner decision could not be enforced while the university's statutory appeal remained outstanding. He also found that any undertaking discussed before the Labour Court was not legally enforceable by the High Court.
The judge said Dr Buckley's common-law case therefore had to satisfy the higher test applying to mandatory interlocutory injunctions. She had not established a strong case likely to succeed.
The ruling did not decide whether Dr Buckley was entitled to a permanent contract, whether the redundancy was valid or how the Labour Court appeal should be resolved. Those issues remained within the relevant statutory processes.