The Labour Court upheld a decision against Dr Jennifer Wood in her fixed-term work appeal against the National University of Ireland Maynooth, for substantially different reasons. The determination was dated 25 June 2015.
Wood said her successive contracts entitled her to a contract of indefinite duration from September 2010. The university argued that she lacked the required continuous service and that later contracts were justified by staff absences.
The Court found that Wood’s occasional work in 2008–09 did not break her continuity of employment. It nevertheless accepted that her 2010–11 contract genuinely replaced Professor John Kinsella during his sabbatical. Wood and Kinsella were both Spanish lecturers, and the department had redistributed teaching and administrative duties.
The Court found objective grounds for the successive fixed-term contracts and concluded that Wood was not employed under a contract of indefinite duration. It disallowed her appeal and upheld the Rights Commissioner’s decision. The Court made no finding on whether the university had appropriately selected her for redundancy.