Fixed Term employee awarded almost €50,00 due to loss of increment entitlements

Recently the WRC awarded a County Council worker who had been engaged by one county council on a fixed term contract, and was subsequently hired on 4 more fixed term contracts.

However, despite the fact that her original contract stated that increments would be paid annually based on meeting a certain criteria such as attendance, conduct and performance, she did not receive any for the subsequent years.

The award was made on the basis that the employer was in breach of section 6 of the Fixed Term Work Act 2003 and as a result the worker was at a loss of almost €50,000 in earnings had the original increments been given during the relevant years.

In their defence, the Council said that the issuing of the contracts was an error and that she had exceeded the salary grade however as they did not set the pay terms, it was found to be invalid.