Ireland: Unilateral Reassignment of Employee Roles

Key point of law: even where the employment contract has a flexibility clause purporting to allow the employer to reassign employee duties, care is needed to ensure the decision is fair, rational and handled properly.

In a recent case relating to Cork County Council, the Council CEO, without warning or consultation, told the Head of Finance that he was to be reassigned to a newly created role of Head of Transformation.

The Head of Finance objected to this change but was told the decision had already been made.  

In due course, the case came before the High Court.  Amongst other related issues, the Court found in favour of the Head of Finance, on the following grounds:

• Contractual role flexibility clauses are limited by the principle of good faith and rationality – known as the Braganza principle under English law;
• Employers must exercise their discretion honestly, in good faith, genuinely and without arbitrariness, capriciousness, perversity or irrationality.
• Employers should hold meaningful consultations with affected employees before making significant changes to roles.

Put simply, employers must remain fair, reasonable and rational, notwithstanding discretion granted by the employment contract.      

This is a high-level general update only. Legal advice should be obtained on specific circumstances.