This is an appeal brought by Trinity College, Dublin against the decision of an Adjudication Officer in a claim of unfair dismissal by Mr Iftikhar Ahmad against his former employer. The Adjudication Officer found in favour of the Complainant’s claim and held that the Complainant should be re-engaged by the Respondent (on return of the redundancy payment) in an alternative role without loss of his prior service, within one week of the date of his Decision. The Respondent appealed the Decision on 17th January 2020.

The Complainant commenced employment as a Research Assistant on a fixed-term contract in 2013. Thereafter, he received successive fixed-term contracts as a Research Fellow, on specified purpose contracts which were funded from external sources.