The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ordered the Health Service Executive to pay agency nurse Paula Dowling €4,000 after finding it breached agency-worker protections by preventing her from applying for a permanent role. The decision was dated 9 September 2024.
Dowling worked full-time for the HSE as an agency nurse from March 2021 to September 2022. She said she was interested in a permanent position, but the HSE told her it would not consider applications from agency staff.
The HSE accepted her account, acknowledged she should have been allowed to express interest and take part in the selection process, and apologised. The adjudicator found that, although Dowling knew about the vacancy and expressed interest, she was not allowed to make a formal application or take part in the internal process.
The WRC found the complaint well-founded under the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012. The law requires agency workers to be informed of vacant posts at the organisation where they work. The adjudicator said it was not possible to determine whether Dowling would have secured the job if her application had been considered, and based the compensation on the failure to consider her. The HSE was directed to pay €4,000.