The Labour Court overturned an €8,000 award to James Killally after allowing an appeal by the Electricity Supply Board (ESB). The determination, dated 3 February 2012, set aside a Rights Commissioner decision that had awarded compensation and directed the ESB to treat him as an employee on a contract of indefinite duration from 1 April 2007.
Killally had worked as an ESB meter reader under successive fixed-term contracts after taking voluntary severance in 1997. His final contract expired in 2009.
The Court found that an indefinite-duration contract would not have entitled him to remain employed beyond the ESB’s normal retirement age of 65. It also found that he had suffered no detriment warranting compensation.
The Rights Commissioner had found the section 8 complaint out of time and found no evidence to support the section 10 complaint. The Labour Court did not decide those remaining issues because it considered them moot.