Biochemist on special purpose contract with Children's Health Ireland loses unfair dismissal claim
A biochemist who was employed for 19 months at
Children's Health Ireland (CHI)
, and was accused of seeking to leverage a grievance procedure to obtain a full-time job, has lost her claim for unfair dismissal.
Representing herself at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Mary Ann Healy said she believed her complaint against her line manager prompted her dismissal.
She said she suffered from a lot of anxiety due to the handling of her complaint in which she alleged she was humiliated by the manager. .
A process of mediation was established between the two employees in an attempt to resolve the issue, but this was unsuccessful. The complaint was not upheld after an internal review process.
READ MORE
Ms Healy appealed, but her employment at CHI had finished by the time the appeal was considered. It was rejected on that basis.
Ms Healy told WRC adjudication officer Valerie Murtagh she did not believe the specified purpose contract she had been offered was genuine. She said the purpose was supposed to be providing cover for an employee seconded to another role but she had never been told who that person was.
She said the recruitment process was arduous and suggested the pre-employment checks were so demanding that the experience had 'all the hallmarks' of being geared towards a permanent contract.
Instead, on June 17th, 2024, about 18 months into working with the organisation, she received a message from the HR department at CHI saying the purpose of her 'specified purpose contract' has 'come to an end'.
She was given four weeks' notice.
Ms Healy said it was only when she was told her contract had ceased that she was informed she had been backfilling for someone who was returning.
Ms Healy, who was herself the subject of a complaint by an agency worker who provided some of her training, said she believed she was dismissed because of her complaint, adding that CHI sought to avoid acknowledging this by claiming her contract was up.
In its evidence to the commission, CHI, represented by Ibec, said Ms Healy was provided with a specified purpose contract.
CHI's lawyers submitted that Ms Healy wanted an apology from her manager in front of her colleagues, a permanent contract and a pay increase to address her complaint.
In a decision in the case, Ms Murtagh said she was satisfied documentation provided by CHI established that another employee, whose name was not published, had returned to the post immediately after Ms Healy departed the role.
Based on this and other documentation supplied, she found the claim of unfair dismissal was not well-founded.
She similarly rejected claims made under the Organisation of Working Time Act and the Protection of employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Go nuclear?
Sir, – Ireland stands at a critical juncture in its climate action journey. Our national emissions reduction targets are ambitious – and increasingly unattainable. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that we will only achieve a 29 per cent reduction by 2030, falling dramatically short of our 51 per cent commitment under the Climate Act. I wonder if, or hopefully how many, of Ireland's population will consider how a proportion of nuclear energy, delivered through one of the recent interesting types of small modular reactor, could greatly improve our situation? – Yours, etc, ANNE BAILY (Dr) READ MORE Co Tipperary.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Man dead after shots fired in Carlow shopping centre, Army bomb disposal team at scene
Gardaí were on Sunday night at the scene of a security incident at a shopping centre in Carlow Town during which shots were fired and a man was fatally wounded. Though gardaí said there was no further concern for public safety, a Defence Forces explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team was asked to attend the scene at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre. Gardaí suspect the dead man was carrying devices, which could be explosive or flammable, and that they were on his person at the scene. His remains were due to be examined, to determine if any devices needed to be made safe. As a result, the man's remains on Sunday night lay where he died, with Garda Headquarters confirming in a statement 'a white Irish adult male is deceased at the scene'. READ MORE A young girl also suffered minor injuries and received medical treatment at the shopping centre before going home with family members. She was not wounded and did not require hospitalisation. The alarm was raised at about 6.15pm, with gardaí rushing to the shopping centre after receiving reports of a gun being discharged inside the premises. The armed man fired a number of shots and the fatal shot was self-inflicted. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan expressed his 'solidarity with those impacted' by the 'really shocking incident', which was 'something we never want or expect to happen in our communities'. 'Gun violence is very rare in Ireland, and I am determined that will remain the case,' he added. 'The area in Carlow is safe. We must now allow An Garda Síochána to investigate this incident fully.' Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris said he had been briefed by Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy about the assistance his Defence Forces personnel were providing to the operation. He was 'thinking of' the young injured girl and her family as well as 'all those who witnessed this situation and the awful shock and upset it must have caused them'. The shopping centre and its car park were set to remain sealed off overnight as gardaí continued their investigations, including the EOD team checks. They were due to be followed by the removal of the dead man's remains and a forensic examination of the scene. Though video footage of some of the incident unfolding was shared on social media, the Garda urged people not to share videos, including on messaging apps. It has asked anyone who recorded the incident to make their footage available to investigating gardaí based in Carlow town. 'The (retail) premises has been evacuated and the scene is preserved,' the Garda statement confirmed. 'The Army EOD team has been requested to attend. At this time, there is no further concern for public safety.'
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on Trump's latest tariff move: this is how trade wars start
The latest decision by Donald Trump t o double the level of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent may have a limited direct impact on Ireland. But the move is of wider importance than just its narrow impact on the sectors involved. And this needs to be understood in Dublin. The first point to note is the obvious one. Despite the ruling of the federal trade court last week that Trump had gone beyond his authority in imposing tariffs without getting the go-ahead from Congress, the US president is determined to push ahead. In choosing the steel and aluminium tariffs, he is focusing on an area which was not part of the federal court ruling - tariffs imposed in a specific sector for national security reasons. For Ireland , the concern here is that pharma and computer chips also fall into this category. In pharma, in particular, the president may soon be in receipt of a report he commissioned which could give him leeway to impose sectoral tariffs. Ireland needs to remain alert to this risk. The second point to note is that Trump's tariff policy continue to be driven in large part by headlines rather than substance. The steel and aluminium tariffs allowed him to trumpet his protection of a key US sector. But in reality there is little space capacity in the sector to take up the slack from a lower level of imports. And prices will rise for the many businesses importing these products. READ MORE The same calculus may apply in the pharma sector – and here it would take American companies a long time to return production to the US market. Tariffs would mean supply disruption and higher prices. But that does not mean they will not happen. The final, and perhaps most concerning, point is what Trump's latest move means for the negotiations between the EU and the US. Brussels has held off from responding to the tariffs imposed by Trump so far – including the first round of steel and aluminium tariffs, hoping to clear the way for a negotiated deal. It would be in Ireland's interests were such an agreement to emerge, avoiding a full-scale transatlantic trade war. Now, however, with the steel and aluminium tariffs hiked to 50 per cent, pressure will grow on Brussels to respond. The EU wants to do a deal , for sure, and there is an argument for it to drag things out a bit longer to see how this latest move plays out. But the EU cannot be seen to be pushed around by Washington. In turn, if it retaliates, this could sour the mood of the talks and lead to further retaliation from Trump. This is how trade wars start. The concern is that the US side still expects unilateral concessions from the EU, while Brussels is preparing for a give-and-take negotiation. Despite Trump's legal power on blanket tariffs being trimmed, significant risks still lie ahead.
