IFWA

Metropolitan Films International Limited

The Workplace Relations Commission has made public an initial tranche of decisions awarding €434,216 to some members of the Irish Film Workers' Association (IFWA) who complained of systematic employment law breaches.

Nearly 40 members of the breakaway trade union accused the producers and their associated entities of breaching the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 by failing to honour their statutory right to a permanent contract after four years’ service and of penalising them for challenging the situation. The union said its campaigning against "systematic blacklisting" in the Irish film industry led to the people losing jobs they had held for decades in companies controlled by Morgan O'Sullivan and the late James Flynn.

The workers registered complaints against two entities, World 2000 Entertainment Ltd and Metropolitan Film Productions Ltd, stating that they were employed by the companies, of which the two producers were the "principal directors".

The respondent companies were the parents of a series of designated activity companies (DACs) and special-purpose vehicles set up for tax relief on film and TV productions in Ireland in recent years, including 'Vikings’ on Amazon Prime and ‘Into the Badlands’ on AMC, the Workplace Relations Commission was told.

Representatives of the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (IBEC) who appeared for the producers at hearings in 2022 and 2023 denied the workers were ever direct employees of the firms – but had instead been hired in from film to film by the designated activity companies.

The WRC rejected that argument and made the orders for compensation against Metropolitan Films International Ltd, a group entity it found was the ultimate employer.

Not only had many of the workers been entitled to assert their entitlement to a contract of indefinite duration, but a number of them were also penalised with dismissal for doing so, adjudication officer Catherine Byrne concluded.

In 13 of the cases, Ms Byrne ordered Metropolitan Films International Ltd to pay each of the workers €5,000 in compensation for the failure to provide a written statement setting out the reasons for employing them on a specified purpose contract in breach of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003. Ten of those workers have also received €25,000 for penalisation by way of dismissal for attempting to assert their entitlement to a fixed-term contract.

The tribunal has also made orders of four weeks’ wages per worker for breaches of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act for the failure to provide the complainants with compliant contractual statements, with the awards ranging from €5,000 to €9,000 made to 18 workers so far.

The matter is on appeal to the Labour Court.

• If an employer employs people under a specified purpose contract in breach of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act, 2003, you must give a written statement setting out the reasons for doing so.
• Employees are entitled to assert their entitlement to a contract of indefinite duration, without being punished for doing so and Employers must comply with compliant contractual statements they have made.