WRC awards Ian Thornton €1,640.88 for unpaid dissertation marking

The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Atlantic Technological University Sligo to pay assistant lecturer Ian Thornton €1,640.88 after upholding his wages complaint in a decision dated 29 May 2025. Thornton said the university underpaid him for correcting dissertations by paying a per-dissertation stipend instead of his contractual hourly rate. The university said the contract set a rate of €15.25 per dissertation. The adjudicator found the contract ambiguous and ruled that the hourly rate applied, making the unpaid wages an unlawful deduction.