The Labour Court ordered Malahide Community School to re-engage Dawn-Marie Conaty from the start of the 2018/2019 school year after finding she was unfairly dismissed. She is to return on the Teacher’s Common Basic Scale without loss of prior service.
In a determination signed on 29 June 2018, the Court allowed Conaty’s appeal from the Adjudication Officer’s decision. The case was reconsidered after the High Court remitted it to the Labour Court.
The school argued that the expiry of Conaty’s fixed-term contract excluded her from unfair-dismissal protection. The Court found she was already a permanent employee when she signed the contract in October 2015, did not know she was giving up that protection, and that the contract was not a genuine fixed-term arrangement. It held the exclusion clause void and found the dismissal unfair when the school did not renew her contract on 1 September 2016.