Fixed-term to permanent

Q. We have members who have been working at the same site on a series of fixed-term contracts for over four years. Are they now classed as permanent employees?

A. The Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, which came into force on 1 October 2002, contain a provision to limit the use of successive fixed-term contracts.

Where an employee has been continuously employed under a fixed-term contract or a series of fixed-term contracts for four years or more, and is then re-engaged on a new contract, that contract is deemed to be permanent unless the employer can objectively justify the need for that employee to remain on a fixed-term contract.

However, this is not retrospective - any employment prior to 10 July 2002 (when the regulations were required to comply with the European Fixed-term Work Directive) is discounted, so your members will not be deemed to be permanent employees under these regulations.