The Labour Court rejected the Arts Council’s appeal and upheld Eimear Harte’s entitlement to a contract of indefinite duration from 14 May 2011. The determination was dated 15 January 2013.
The Arts Council argued that budget restrictions, a recruitment moratorium and restructuring justified renewing Harte’s fixed-term contract. The Court found those grounds did not justify withholding an indefinite-duration contract. It also noted the moratorium had not prevented later renewals and that the contract did not state the reasons the Arts Council later relied on.
At the hearing, the Arts Council conceded Harte’s claim to an ex-gratia redundancy payment under specified public-service terms, as well as statutory redundancy. Harte accepted the Rights Commissioner’s decision that her Section 8 claim was out of time. The only issue decided on appeal was her Section 9 claim, which the Court upheld.