What is the situation regarding workers on what is called “fixed-purpose” contracts?
The Redundancy Payments Act 2003 safeguards the right to redundancy of a worker employed under a “fixed-purpose” contract i.e. where the exact duration of the contract was incapable of being determined at the beginning. If the contract is not renewed following the fulfilling of the purpose, with the fixed-purpose contract therefore ceasing, a redundancy situation can arise. There is already provision under Section 9(1)(b) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 regarding fixed-term contracts under which a redundancy situation exists where a fixed-term of employment expires without being renewed under the same or a similar contract.
