The Labour Court retained a €15,000 award to Ms Collette Devlin after varying the Rights Commissioner’s decision on St Marys Aid’s appeal. The determination was signed on 17 September 2013. The Court upheld her complaint that St Marys Aid failed to give written reasons for renewing her fixed-term contract, but found her separate complaint under section 6 was not well founded.
Devlin worked as chief executive officer on a 12-month contract from February 2011. St Marys Aid said the renewal depended on external funding, but the Court found funding was available and the dominant reason for making the contract fixed-term was to monitor her performance. That reason was not stated in writing. The Court found the misleading explanation contributed to Devlin losing her job when the contract expired, despite continued funding.
St Marys Aid accepted that it had failed to provide written grounds, but argued the breach was technical. The Court disagreed and found its consequences particularly serious. It held that the original €15,000 compensation remained just and equitable.