Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A College Employee

A Third Level College

Representatives

Darach MacNamara BL instructed by McGrane Solicitors

IBEC

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 14 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003

CA-00033041-001

13/12/2019

The complainant has worked with the respondent for twenty years. Until 2015 he was employed as a General Operative.

In February 2015 he was offered a new contract as a Supervisor to cover for an absent colleague. The contract was to cease when she returned.

In October 2016 he was offered another contract but for a different purpose. That contract ended on July 24th, 2019.

The complainant seeks a contract of indefinite duration in that specific role.

Summary of Respondent ‘s Case:

The respondent raised a preliminary issue on the complaint asserting that the matters in the complaint are covered by the res judicata rule as the complaint had been the subject of a WRC hearing in October 2019.

That hearing related to complaints under the both the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003 and the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

While no decision has been issued (at the date of this hearing but has since) the complainant cannot re-litigate the same issues.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The respondent submitted that the earlier complaint was submitted under the Employment Equality Acts and the Industrial Relations Acts and that there was no statutory bar to submitting a complaint under the Fixed Term Work Act.

The complainant submits that at all material times he was a ‘Fixed-term employee’ within the meaning of the Protection of Employees (Fixed term Work) Act 2003.

The respondent has submitted that the complaint has already been the subject of a hearing.

The complaint form relating to the earlier case heard on October 31st 219 was submitted by the respondent to the hearing.

The complaint numbers for those complaints are CA-00029986-001, 002 and 003 ad they relate respectively to the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003 and the Industrial Relations Act 1969.

The complainant’s assertion that the previous hearing related to a complaint under the Employment Equality Acts is demonstrably untrue; there is no reference in that case to any complaint under the Employment Equality Acts.

Moreover, the summary of the complainant’s case on the complaint form as it relates to the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003 recites precisely the same facts as are contained in the current complaint.

The current complaint was submitted on November 11th, 2019 some few weeks after the previous hearing and no explanation was offered for this.

Since this hearing the decision in the case of ADJ 23435 has issued on March 19th, 2020.

The Adjudication Officer in that case fully addressed the complaint in CA-00029986-002 and the matter is res judicata.

I find therefore that I do not have jurisdiction to hear the complaint and it is not well-founded.

For the reason set out above I find that complaint CA-00033041 is not well-founded.

Res judicata.