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.