The Labour Court found the Irish Museum of Modern Art breached Antoinette Emoe’s fixed-term work rights, ordering €32,500 in compensation and retrospective admission to the appropriate pension scheme. The determination was signed on 5 February 2016.
Emoe appealed a Rights Commissioner’s decision that she lacked standing to bring a complaint under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003. The museum had argued that she was a contractor and not a fixed-term worker. The Court found that the museum had retrospectively reclassified her as an employee and that her contracts from 2008 to 2013 were fixed-term contracts under the Act.
The Court found that covering an employee on a career break objectively justified renewing Emoe’s fixed-term contract, so her Section 9 complaint was not well founded. It also found that she was treated less favourably than comparable permanent employees, and that her rights under Section 6 were infringed. The Court said the denial affected her pay, annual leave, pension membership and other benefits. The compensation comprised €27,500 for actual loss and €5,000 for the Section 6 infringement.