Teacher entitled to job, €88k arrears

A school for deaf children has been told by the Labour Court to reinstate a dismissed temporary teacher with a contract of indefinite duration and pay him arrears of more than €88,000.

Over the last three years, Philip Grehan’s case against the board of management of St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys has been heard first by the Rights Commissioner, then the Labour Court, then the High Court, and finally by the Labour Court again.

Mr Grehan first took the case to the Rights Commissioner in 2013 arguing that the school had contravened the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act by employing him on five successive fixed-term contracts covering a period of five years starting in 2007 but was refusing to provide him with a contract of indefinite duration.