Aer Lingus wins WRC case over fixed-term contract ending

The Workplace Relations Commission found against former Aer Lingus catering assistant Joanna Haque in six employment complaints after her fixed-term contract expired in March 2020. Adjudication officer Brian Dolan dated the decision 5 July 2023. Haque said she had been unfairly dismissed, denied wages and notice, excluded from a transfer of employment and refused redundancy pay. Aer Lingus said her contract ended on its stated date and that it did not renew fixed-term contracts during the pandemic-related collapse in air traffic. The officer found the written contract expired on its stated date and that Haque did not have the service required for statutory fixed-term protections or redundancy pay. He also found that she was no longer employed on the transfer date, so no right to transfer arose. Her two wage complaints were not pursued at the hearing. All six complaints were found not well founded.