Labour Court awards Colm Naughton €2,000 in fixed-term work appeal

The Labour Court awarded Colm Naughton €2,000 after finding that the Board of Management North Dublin Muslim National School failed to tell him in writing, as soon as practicable, what would determine the end of his fixed-term contract. It also found the separate complaint about notice of permanent vacancies was not well founded. The determination was dated 21 May 2008. Naughton appealed a Rights Commissioner’s decision. He said he learned his learning support teacher post was temporary about three weeks after starting work. The school said it offered him a temporary post for the rest of the school year after its preferred candidate could not be approved. The Court found the school gave written notice five months after he started and had provided no reason for the delay. It accepted that the school had taken sufficient steps to tell him about permanent vacancies by post, even though he did not receive the letter. The €2,000 compensation was for the written-notice breach and did not cover lost earnings.