State misinterprets its own employment laws

The Government has been told to re-hire a former staff member of the Department of Employment — after it failed to correctly interpret its own employment laws.

In its ruling, the Labour Court even found that Government officials had issued “unlawful instructions” in relation to the woman’s employment.

The court made the ruling in the case of Ashling Abbott who was employed by three Government departments for six years up to 2012. Ms Abbott started working for the Department of Finance in 2006 as a “temporary unestablished auditor”.