The Labour Court directed Galway City Council to pay Mike Mackey compensation equal to one week’s pay after finding a breach of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. The determination was dated 22 June 2006 and followed Mackey’s appeal from a Rights Commissioner’s decision.
The Court found that the Council had not given Mackey written reasons for renewing his contract by the renewal date, as the Act required. It described the breach as technical and inadvertent, but said the notice requirement was mandatory; it also found Mackey had suffered no loss from the delay. The amount of one week’s pay was not specified.
The Court rejected Mackey’s claim that his contract history entitled him to a contract of indefinite duration and his claim that the contract’s end amounted to penalisation. The final contract covered a colleague on sick leave and expired when that colleague returned. The Court modified and otherwise affirmed the Rights Commissioner’s decision.