IMPACT: IT colleges could be breaching equality laws

INSTITUTES of Technology are running the risk of breaching anti-discrimination legislation because of their excessive use of workers on fixed-term contracts, it was claimed yesterday.

IMPACT said those workers were being denied the full range of employment protections under Irish law as a result of their status. The union’s national secretary Peter Nolan said he had secured figures showing 100 members of staff in six of the country’s 14 institutes are on fixed-term contracts, despite being entitled to permanent employment.

The warning to the IT sector will be voiced at the inaugural annual general meeting of the union’s institute of technology branch in Dublin today. Mr Nolan said under the terms of the Protection of Employees Act 2003, fixed-term workers are entitled to permanent contracts after three years of continuous employment.

“By denying permanent employment to these workers, the vast majority of whom are women, the institutes of technology are not only breaching existing legislation to protect fixed-term workers, they run the risk of breaching equality legislation on gender grounds.

“By keeping these workers on fixed-term contracts, the institutes are denying workers the full range of benefits that their permanent colleagues enjoy, such as pay increases, access to promotions, sick pay, training opportunities, annual leave, leave of absence, pensions and career breaks. These are intolerable inequalities to have within the workplace,” he said.

The trade union has the wind in its sails on the issue since the European Court of Justice Advocate General argued a week ago that the Irish Government had breached an EU directive by failing to pay 91 fixed-term civil servants equal pay and pensions with their permanent colleagues. That is expected to be re-enforced by a ruling from the European Court of Justice within the coming months.

Mr Nolan said: “We are closely observing the decision of the European Court of Justice ruling in relation to fixed-term workers, and we will pursue employers, on foot of the ruling, in order to ensure that workers placed on contracts of indefinite duration will qualify for full pensions.”

The Protection of Employees (Fixed Time Workers) Act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against temporary workers unless there are “objective grounds” for variations in pay and conditions. That means fixed-term staff who do the same or similar work as permanent staff must enjoy the same pay and conditions.