The Labour Court rejected Catherine Quirke’s appeal over whether her Health Care Assistant role transferred when Bidvest Noonan (ROI) Ltd’s contract at University Hospital Kerry ended. In a determination dated 11 December 2020, it upheld the Adjudication Officer’s decision that no transfer of undertakings had occurred.
Quirke argued that she had transferred to a new provider without the protections required by the regulations or had been made redundant. Bidvest Noonan said the workers had transferred under the regulations. A new agency-services framework took effect on 1 September 2017, after which staff were told to apply to preferred providers.
The Court considered 14 Health Care Assistants assigned to hospital duties. Hospital nursing staff set their tasks and hours; the assistants had no management structure or shared working method and could not organise their work as a group. The Court concluded that Bidvest Noonan had made staff available to the hospital, rather than maintaining an autonomous group capable of transfer. It found no transfer under the regulations, so Quirke’s appeal failed.