The Workplace Relations Commission found that Technological University Dublin penalised Robert Maher by not renewing his fixed-term Programme Manager appointment to avoid giving him a contract of indefinite duration. It ordered the university to re-engage him as Programme Director on such a contract and awarded him €20,000 compensation. The decision was dated 15 December 2023.
Maher already held a contract of indefinite duration as a Grade V Staff Officer when he took the fixed-term role in the Access to Apprenticeship programme. He said the programme continued to be funded and his role remained necessary. The university said the Programme Manager post was no longer part of its organisational design.
The WRC upheld two complaints under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003: that the non-renewal was penalisation and that the appointment lacked objective justification. It found two other complaints not well founded: a further penalisation complaint, because no detriment occurred, and a Payment of Wages complaint, because his Staff Officer salary was the wages properly payable after he returned to that post.