Contracts of Employment

Last updated: Tue, Jul 25th, 2017 10:44:15 am

Teachers, as employees of the Board of Management, have certain statutory rights. These rights are conferred by legislation, notably The Unfair Dismissals Acts of 1977 to 2007, The Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2001. The Industrial Relations Act, 1990, the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, Employment Equality Act 1998 - 2004, Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act, 2001, Protection of Employees (Fixed Term Work) Act, 2003. See National Employment Rights Authority (NERA)

Boards of Management should have contract documents available to be offered to all new employees. Such contracts fall into two distinct categories:

Fixed-term Contract

Given to a person who enters a contract of employment with an employer where the end of the contract is determined by an objective condition such as arriving at a specific date, or completing a specific task or the occurrence of a specific event. e.g.

  • Substitute for an employee who is on a career break

  • Part-time employment which arises from a job sharing arrangement with another employee

  • Substitute for an employee who is on maternity or parental leave

  • Substitution for an employee who is on sick leave

This objective condition(s) must be stated explicitly in the contract

Template Letter of Termination of first fixed term contract

Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID)

Given to an employee where the end of the contract is only determined by the employee attaining a specific age for retirement or who is made redundant due to surplus requirement of a school based on staffing entitlements or curricular/programme needs based on an official staffing allocation.

Since there is, currently, no redundancy scheme applicable to teachers, a CID is, in effect, a permanent contract.

The terms under which a teacher is considered eligible for he award of a CID are outlined above under the heading Teacher Appointments.

Sample contracts for use in these circumstances are provided on the ACCS website (Click here)