Frustration of an employment contract: what happens if a contract ends because an employee cannot secure accommodation?
Published on: 25/09/2025
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Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Sinead Morgan Legal Director, DAC Beachcroft
Sinead Morgan Legal Director, DAC Beachcroft
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Sinead Morgan is a Legal Director leading DAC Beachcroft Dublin's employment team. She advises on all aspects of employment law and IR issues from recruitment of employees to contract drafting and termination of employment. Sinead has experience acting for clients in varied sectors, to include manufacturing, retail, tech, insurance, professional services, recruitment and pharma. She is also experienced in defending employers before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Labour Court, Circuit and High Courts. She regularly advises employers on various internal issues guiding them through complex investigations and disciplinary processes and resolving issues through dispute resolution processes such as mediation.

Sinead tutors in employment law for the Law Society of Ireland and presents on topical employment law issues for various bodies such as Legal Island, CIPD and CMG Training. She also provides tailored training sessions to her clients on key employment law issues impacting their sectors and provides strategic support in developing their own HR programmes. Sinead is also a regular contributor to various employment law publications such as Legal Island and the Industrial Relations News and an active member of the Employment and Equality Committee of the Law Society of Ireland.

Frustration of an employment contract occurs where performance of the contract becomes impossible due to an unforeseen event outside the control of either party. In such situations the contract is terminated by operation of law.

Due to the narrow definition of frustration this argument is rarely made before the Workplace Relations Commission ("WRC") and often rejected. Historically, the frustration defence in employment related cases has been used in situations where an employee is convicted and imprisoned and arguably unable to complete their duties as in the case of Muiris Flynn v Iarnrod Eireann ADJ-00030195/2022.

A number of recent cases have now identified economic factors, which could in certain cases increase the scope for employers to make successful frustration arguments where

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 25/09/2025
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