Labour Court disallows five Aer Lingus workers’ share-scheme appeal

The Labour Court disallowed an appeal by five Aer Lingus workers over their exclusion from an employee share scheme, finding it had no jurisdiction to hear their claims. The decision was dated 4 April 2013. Mr Aron Gokul, Ms Karen O’Mahony, Mr Gerard Pettit, Ms Karen Hourihan and Mr Robert O’Meara argued that their exclusion from share allocations while they were fixed-term employees breached the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. They said the breach continued until shares were distributed in December 2010. Aer Lingus argued that the relevant allocations were made between 2003 and 2006, when the workers did not meet the scheme’s service requirement. The Court found the alleged cause of action arose by November 2006, outside the time limit, and that the workers lacked standing under the Act because they were no longer fixed-term employees when they referred their claims. It disallowed the appeal; the merits were not decided. The Court did not decide whether the severance waivers covered the claims.