UCD wins unfair dismissal case over fixed-term lecturer contract

A Workplace Relations Commission adjudication officer found Ronan Frawley’s unfair dismissal complaint against University College Dublin not well founded in a decision dated 7 May 2019. Frawley argued that UCD ended his fixed-term employment to prevent him gaining a contract of indefinite duration. He said he was not retained for a continuing lectureship and that tutoring hours offered to him were later withdrawn. UCD said his final six-month contract was to replace a lecturer absent through illness and excluded the Unfair Dismissals Act when it expired. The officer found the signed contract met the statutory exclusion and that its expiry was not shown to be a device to avoid liability. The officer also accepted that tutoring hours had been offered to Frawley in error and that UCD could reserve tutor-demonstrator roles for students pursuing PhDs.