The Labour Court awarded former research fellow Iftikhar Ahmad €20,000 compensation after finding Trinity College Dublin unfairly dismissed him. In a determination dated 27 October 2020, the Court varied the Adjudication Officer’s decision, which had directed the College to re-engage Ahmad in another role if he returned his redundancy payment.
Ahmad worked as a Research Fellow/Post Doc Researcher on externally funded research. When the funding ended, his employment was terminated by redundancy on 31 December 2018. He received a statutory redundancy payment of €6,564. The College appealed, arguing that the funding loss created a genuine redundancy situation and that no suitable alternative role was available in his specialised area. Ahmad argued that the College had not followed fair procedures or properly considered redeployment.
The Court accepted that the work had ceased because of the funding loss and that a redundancy situation existed. But it found the College had not made sufficient efforts to seek alternative roles for Ahmad and had not established that his selection for redundancy was fair. It found he was unfairly dismissed. Re-engagement was not practical, so the Court awarded €20,000 compensation, in addition to the €6,564 redundancy payment already paid.