Labour Court rejects Michael Hayes’s public-holiday complaint

The Labour Court found Michael Hayes’s complaint about public-holiday entitlement not well founded, ruling that he was not engaged under a contract of employment for the purposes of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. The Court varied the Adjudication Officer’s decision in a ruling dated 18 December 2025. Hayes argued that he was a worker entitled to the Act’s protections. The Minister For Enterprise Trade & Employment argued that his office-holder role did not amount to employment under a contract of service. Applying its findings in a linked appeal concerning the same facts, the Court found he was outside the Act’s protections.