The Labour Court rejected Fergal Cunningham’s appeal over his fixed-term contracts with the Institute of Technology Tralee, affirming the Rights Commissioner’s decision that his complaint was not well founded. The determination was signed on 8 May 2013.
Cunningham, an assistant lecturer in Carpentry and Joinery, argued that the Institute should have offered him a contract of indefinite duration after his successive fixed-term contracts exceeded four years. He said falling student numbers were too uncertain to justify the renewals and that he could have been redeployed. The Institute said it had hired him to address an apprenticeship backlog and that falling demand made the post temporary and ultimately unviable.
The Court found that Cunningham had been told of the post’s temporary nature and that the Institute had given written reasons for each renewal. It accepted that the declining apprenticeship programme created a temporary need, and found that the reasons justified the renewal under section 9. It also found that the Institute met its written explanation obligations under section 8. The appeal covered the decisions under sections 8 and 9 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003; the section 6 decision was not appealed.