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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: |
Can employers set a
fixed term of 51 weeks to stop workers accruing the right not to be unfairly
dismissed on reaching one year’s service? |
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Answer: |
The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment)
Regulations prevent fixed term workers from being less favourably treated
than permanent staff unless objectively justified. A surprising number of employers still forget that if
their fixed term staff work over one year, then unless a fair procedure is
followed, any dismissal will be unfair. The ‘your two years are up, goodbye’
approach is no longer good enough. However the Court of Appeal in Dpt Work
& Pensions v Webley in January 2005 confirmed that an employer’s ’51 week
rule’ (not to keep short term staff on for more than 51 weeks) was in fact
lawful. When Ms Webley was dismissed after 50 weeks employment for
no particularly good reason, but at least partially to stop her later
claiming unfair dismissal, she claimed less favourable treatment under the
Fixed-term Regs instead. Her claim failed. To have decided otherwise would
have been contrary to the intention of the original EU Directive & would
have made all fixed term contracts unlawful. See also our page on fixed term employees 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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