The Labour Court reinstated Paul Scott at Dublin Institute of Technology without loss of income after finding that he had acquired a contract of indefinite duration. Its determination, dated 6 October 2014, replaced a Rights Commissioner’s decision that had also ordered reinstatement and compensation for financial loss.
Dublin Institute of Technology appealed under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. Scott began as a temporary clerical officer on a specified-purpose contract covering an acting post. When that post ended around July 2008, he continued working without a new contract. The Court found that he was then a permanent employee under the Act. It held that the fixed-term provisions in a contract issued in 2009 infringed the Act and had no effect. The Court ordered the Institute to reinstate him to his former post without loss of income from the date his employment ended.