Vol. 467 No. 1
288 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment whether employment legislation is valid for contract workers who have worked in excess of the statutory time for employee rights legislation to take effect. [12777/96]
As a general rule, employment protection legislation applies to persons employed in accordance with a contract of employment. Certain Acts require employees to have a minimum period of service with their employer in order to qualify for coverage e.g. the redundancy payments legislation sets a threshold of 104 weeks' continuous service for eligibility purposes.
In referring to "contract workers" in his question it is understood that the Deputy means workers employed on fixed term contracts of employment. Such workers are generally covered by the individual pieces of employment protection legislation where they meet with the relevant qualification criteria.
An important exception is the unfair dismissals legislation. The Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 1993, do not cover employees on fixed term or fixed purpose contracts who are let go when the contract expires or the purpose ceases provided the contract is signed by both parties and specifies that the Unfair Dismissals Acts do not apply to such dismissals. However, since the 1993 amending legislation, a Rights Commissioner-the Employment Appeals Tribunal may consider whether the employment of a person on a series of two or more fixed contracts, between which there was no more than three months of a break, was for the purpose of avoidance by the employer of liability under the Acts. Where it is so found, the Acts will be deemed to apply and the length of the various contracts may be added together for the purpose of eligibility.
