Labour Court recommends Trinity College Dublin redeploy redundant research assistant

The Labour Court recommended that Trinity College Dublin treat a former research assistant as permanently redeployed to her current position, with no loss of service and on her original pay and conditions from the date of redundancy. The recommendation, signed on 22 November 2013, also called for appropriate salary arrears and return of the redundancy lump sum. The worker's union, the Irish Federation of University Teachers, argued that she had 16 years' service, did work beyond research and should have been redeployed under the Public Service Agreement. Trinity College Dublin said her post was externally funded, paid statutory redundancy and later found her alternative administrative roles. The Court concluded that the redundancy exemption did not apply: her post was not externally funded in the latter period, she was not solely engaged in research, and a suitable university post became available about five weeks after her redundancy.