WRC rules photographer was not freelance
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has ruled that a freelancer at RTÉ was actually an employee.
The statutory complaints were brought by photographer, Beta Bajgart.
Bajgart's case against RTÉ will now proceed to a full hearing, following a preliminary ruling today.
It is the first WRC case where the principles of a major Supreme Court ruling in 2023 on the distinction between employees and contractors have been brought to bear at the national broadcaster, which has legacy issues with alleged misclassification of workers as freelance contractors.
Bajgart stated that her job as a photographer on the set of the soap opera was terminated without notice on 15 December 2023.
RTÉ lawyers had argued that Bajgart was not an employee, but a freelance contractor – giving the employment tribunal "no jurisdiction" her complaints.
'Negative commentary'
Adjudication officer Catherine Byrne said that Bajgart suffered "negative commentary" in September 2023 after attention was drawn to her role following a hearing of the Oireachtas Public Accounts committee, which had been scrutinising RTÉ’s finances.
In the wake of the publicity, Bajgart’s solicitors wrote to RTÉ asserting that she had acquired a contract of indefinite duration and was an employee, the tribunal noted.
The broadcaster’s director of human resources replied that RTÉ’s relationship with the photographer was "not an employment relationship" but that she was "a supplier of services".
Bajgart was first engaged for the work as an independent contractor for a year starting in June 2011 at €750 a week.