Fixed-term employees get new rights today

The Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations of 2002, which implement the EU’s Fixed-Term Work Directive, are the first to be made under the new Employment Act and were approved by Parliament in July.

The Regulations define fixed-term employees as “employees on contracts that last for a specified period of time or will end when a specified task has been completed or a specified event does or does not happen.” They do not apply to agency temps or apprentices.

Under the new Regulations:

• fixed-term employees should not be treated less favourably than permanent employees of the same employer doing similar work, unless there is an objective justification for the difference; and
• individuals employed on a string of successive fixed-term permanent contracts for four or more years are treated as permanent, unless there is a justifiable reason for the continuation of fixed-term contracts

The final text of the Regulations is not available at the time of writing, but guidance on the regulations is now available at:
www.dti.gov.uk/er/fixed/fixed-pl512.htm