The Workplace Relations Commission found Teagasc breached fixed-term work protections by keeping Asaf Shnel on successive contracts beyond four years without objective justification. Adjudication officer Bríd Deering, in a decision dated 15 October 2025, found the complaint well-founded and ordered Teagasc to place Shnel on the appropriate point of the technologist grade 1 pay scale and pay resulting arrears.
Shnel said his work overlapped across projects and met an ongoing need. Teagasc argued the contracts covered separate projects and roles, his service was not continuous, and project funding justified fixed terms. Deering found the required resignations between contracts did not break continuity, and that research met a fixed and permanent need.