The Labour Court ordered Dublin Institute of Technology to reinstate Mr Mikel Gainza on a contract of indefinite duration and pay him €2,500 compensation. The Court’s decision was dated 12 November 2012.
Gainza worked as a senior researcher on successive fixed-term contracts, funded by different research projects. The Institute argued that the external funding and separate projects justified renewing those contracts. The Court found that Gainza was a permanent member of a research group that met an ongoing need of the Institute, and that project funding did not justify the renewals. It determined that he was entitled to a contract of indefinite duration from 1 April 2009.
The Court also found that the Institute breached the notice requirement when it failed to tell Gainza in May 2011 why it would not offer him a contract of indefinite duration.