The Workplace Relations Commission found Frank Matthews’ complaint well founded and directed Metropolitan Films International Limited to pay him €25,000 for penalisation through dismissal after he sought permanent employment. It also ordered €5,000 compensation for breaches involving objective reasons for fixed-term contracts. The decision was dated 15 December 2023.
Matthews, a master plasterer, worked for the company group from 2001 on film and television productions, with periods without work between productions. The adjudication officer found those breaks did not end his continuous employment, and that he had acquired a contract of indefinite duration, meaning he should have been treated as a permanent employee.
He was not called back when work resumed in 2019 after he and colleagues sought recognition of their service and rights to permanent employment. The officer found that he was dismissed after seeking those rights. She also found there was no legitimate objective for successive specified-purpose contracts and that the company failed to provide written reasons for using them. The respondent argued that separate production companies employed him and that the complaint was out of time; both arguments were rejected.