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Ask Employment Law |
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Remember: There is no substitute for legal advice on the actual
situation you find yourself in. The information posted on this site is for
general information only, is based on |
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Question: |
What are the legal
issues involved in taking on and then letting go employees on a Fixed Term
contract? |
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Answer: |
Especially
when you only have funding for a fixed period of time, or the project is for
a fixed duration, the first quest for the employer is whether to employ on a
permanent, fixed term or temporary basis. It may be
appropriate to employ on someone on a permanent basis if you plan to obtain
more money to continue the programme after the first two years, or if you
think you will be able to keep the member of staff on in any case. However if
there is a question mark over continued employment after the first two years,
then ending the contract will be easier if the member of staff is not
‘permanent’ and it would be fairer on him or her to know they cannot plan on
staying indefinitely. In a Fixed
Term Contract you the employer specify the date on which the contract will
come to an end. However employers should still employ subject to a
probationary period and would be wise to still reserve the right to terminate
earlier on giving notice. To a large
extent the difference between a Fixed Term contract lasting over a year and a
permanent contract is largely psychological. Once the worker in
question has over one years’ service, he or she is still protected from
unfair dismissal, even if employed on a fixed term basis. If you want to
dismiss someone on a fixed term contract with more than one years service,
you should follow the normal fair
procedures for dismissal. According
to the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment)
Regulations 2002: ·
Fixed-term employees should not be treated less
favourably (pro rata) than comparable permanent employees, unless ·
The difference in treatment can be objectively
justified. ·
The
fixed & permanent employees have to do ‘the same or broadly similar work’
at the same place of work. Employers
can rely on the ‘justification’ argument if there is a material difference in
how fixed term workers are treated. However employers should ask the rhetorical
question: ‘Is there a good
reason for treating this employee less favourably?’ The
government says less favourable treatment can be justified on objective grounds if it is to achieve a
legitimate objective, for example a genuine business objective. For example
in practice it’s going to be hard to justify giving a permanent employee more
holiday entitlement than a Fixed Term employee. Last
reviewed: July 2010 |
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Employment
Solicitor Reculver Solicitors Tel
0207 324 6271 Regulated
by the Solicitors Regulation Authority ©
Reculver Solicitors. 2005- |
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