The State has been ordered to pay compensation to a number of temporary workers in the Civil Service, on the basis that it failed to implement an EU directive on their pay and conditions.
The directive, which concerns the conditions of workers on fixed-term contracts, came into force on July 10th, 2001. It was translated into Irish law as the Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Workers) Act.
Late last week a rights commissioner ordered the State to pay a number of compensation awards, totalling €217,000, to 91 civil servants because a number of Government Departments had failed to follow the legislation.
The largest awards are worth €40,000, but most are worth between €2,000 and €7,000 to the workers concerned. An undisclosed sum of back pay must also be paid.
According to the IMPACT trade union, which took the cases on behalf of the workers, some of those concerned have been on fixed-term contracts for up to 10 years.
The civil servants had been denied a range of benefits that permanent civil servants enjoy, including pay increases, pensions, access to promotions, sick pay, training opportunities, annual leave, leave of absence and career breaks.
The commissioner said this discrimination had been illegal since July 10th, 2001, when the EU directive on fixed-term workers came into force. She also found that Government Departments had flouted new laws that prevent employers from undermining workers' basic rights and entitlements by employing them on a series of temporary contracts over long periods of time. She ruled that most of the 91 should now be placed on permanent contracts.
Under the Act, they are entitled to "the same definition of tenure and procedures for termination as apply to comparable employees under the Civil Service regulations which determine these matters", she said.
The Act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against temporary workers unless there are "objective grounds" for variations in pay and conditions. The "objective grounds" cannot include the fact that the contract is for a fixed time period.
This means fixed-term staff who do the same or similar work as permanent staff must enjoy the same pay and conditions. The Act, which transposed a European Union directive into Irish law, covers all conditions of employment.
The Departments now liable for big compensation payouts are Agriculture and Food (€80,000), Arts, Sports and Tourism (€52,500), Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (€22,000), Justice, Equality and Law Reform (€3,000), and Transport (€60,000). The Department of Foreign Affairs was also told to put a number of staff on new permanent contracts.
IMPACT's national secretary, Mr Peter Nolan, said the Government had a responsibility to champion laws governing workers' rights and, therefore, should not appeal the findings.