The Labour Court found the redundancies of two Dublin West Education Centre workers unfair and recommended their reinstatement without loss of pay. The recommendation was signed on 21 August 2009.
The Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union argued that selection was unfair and that the employer had not properly engaged with it. The Centre said its worsening finances left it no option but to make the redundancies.
The Court said the Centre had not fully explored options under the public-service surplus-staff memorandum and had used no predetermined objective selection criteria. Any redundancy lump sums received should be refunded when the recommendation is implemented, and discussions should resume under the memorandum.