The Workplace Relations Commission found that a clerical worker employed in Wexford was not a fixed-term employee under the Act and upheld her complaint. The decision was dated 20 November 2017.
Her September 2012 contract said she was covering an absent staff member but had no end date. The worker said she had worked continuously in clerical duties and was entitled to a contract of indefinite duration. The government respondent said the contract wording was a mistake and that she had been hired to support a project.
The adjudication officer found that the original contract, signed by both sides, governed the dispute and that the respondent could not change its terms unilaterally. The contract had no end date or end purpose, and the respondent had not given written notice of the objective conditions that would determine when her employment ended. The officer found that she was an employee, not a fixed-term employee within the meaning of the Act.
The complaint succeeded. The decision did not specify a monetary award.