Fixed-term employment
Fixed-term employment is an exception
The Employment Contracts Act states that an employment contract is valid indefinitely unless it has, for a justified reason, been made for a specific fixed term. Therefore, a permanent employment contract is, per the Employment Contracts Act, the primary form of an employment relationship. A fixed-term employment contract is always an exception that requires a justified reason.
If you have questions about the justification for fixed-term employment or other matters related to the employment relationship, contact your local shop steward or the Union office.
The Employment Contracts Act states that contracts made for a fixed term on an employer’s initiative without a justified reason shall be considered valid indefinitely. If several consecutive fixed-term contracts are concluded with an employee, the requirement for a justified reason applies to each separate employment contract. If there is no justified reason for even a single employment contract, the employment contract is considered valid indefinitely from the start of the employment contract in question.
The conclusion of an employment contract that is valid indefinitely does not require some specific number of consecutive fixed-term employment contracts beforehand, even though you may, on occasion, come across such a claim. An employment contract should always be made valid indefinitely when the employer does not have a justified reason for a fixed-term contract.
The Employment Contracts Act also requires that the employer present the employee with written information about the justification for the fixed-term nature of their contract. Generally, the justification for a fixed term is stated in the written employment contract.
A fixed-term employment relationship can also become valid indefinitely if the employer allows the employee to continue to work after the expiry of the fixed-term contract. This is considered a tacit extension of the contractual relationship.
Same rights as in permanent employment
It is prohibited to apply less favourable employment terms than for permanent employees purely on the basis of fixed-term employment. For example, fixed-term employment gives equal right to occupational health care and various holidays or leaves.
In terms of the application of employment benefits, the Employment Contracts Act regards an employment relationship as having been valid continuously if the employer and employee have concluded a number of consecutive fixed-term employment contracts without interruption or with only short interruptions.
As per the Employment Contracts Act, a fixed-term employee is entitled to receive a written, justified answer from the employer with regard to the possibility of extending the duration of the employment contract.
Fixed-term employment at universities
The large number and consecutive nature of fixed-term employment relationships are a major issue in the university sector in particular. More than half of the teaching and research staff in universities have fixed-term employment contracts.
The Union of Research Professionals recommends that the duration of fixed-term employment relationship always cover the entire period of time that constitutes the grounds for fixed-term employment, such as a research project or term of a temporary position.
Legal grounds for fixed-term employment contracts include, for example, working as a substitute for a permanent employee or managing an open position during a recruitment process.
The fixed-term nature of a position related to dissertation work is always justified, as dissertation work is not intended to continue indefinitely. The Union of Research Professionals recommends that the fixed-term employment contract of a doctoral researcher always cover the entire duration required to conduct the research, around four years.
Universities often use the project-based nature of the work as a justification for fixed-term contracts. The project-based nature of the work is not, however, a legal reason for fixed-term employment if the duration or work tasks specified in the employment contract are not actually bound to the duration or content of the project. Neither is it a legal reason for fixed-term employment if the employer offers several consecutive fixed-term contracts, claiming that the work is project-based in nature. If the work is conducted in the form of several consecutive research projects, the need for labour must generally be considered permanent.
Fixed-term employment cannot be justified simply by the employee’s title or a term that signifies their career stage. For example, “post doc” is not a legal reason for fixed-term employment, since the justified reason required by the Employment Contracts Act must be related to the temporary nature of the need for labour.
External funding alone is not a legal reason for fixed-term employment. The faculty’s inability to predict their funding situation several years from now is also not a sufficient reason. Uncertainty about the sufficiency or funding of the work offered is, on its own, not an acceptable reason for fixed-term employment contracts.
Consecutive fixed-term employment contracts refer to the conclusion of two or more fixed-term employment contracts in a row. The Employment Contracts Act prohibits the use of consecutive fixed-term employment contracts when the number or total duration of the fixed-term contracts or the totality of such contracts indicates a permanent need of labour.
The more consecutive fixed-term contracts concluded, the stronger the indication of a permanent need for labour. If the consecutive fixed-term employment contracts demonstrate, as per the Employment Contracts Act, that the employer’s need for labour is permanent, the employer must offer the employee an employment contract that is valid indefinitely.
It is an important part of academic career planning to actively bring up the possibility of making the employment relationship permanent with the employer. If you have questions about the grounds for your fixed-term employment contract or have had several consecutive fixed-term employment contracts, you can always turn to your shop steward or the Union lawyer to assess the situation.
Local and union-level negotiations
As per the collective agreement for universities, fixed-term employment relationships can be negotiated both locally and on the union level. The negotiations may aim to verify the employment relationship as valid indefinitely. Alternatively, the negotiations may concern monetary compensation if the employment relationship has already ended.
The Union helps its members, for example, by negotiating with the employer.
Negotiations in line with the collective agreement are completely free of charge for employees that are Union members. The member does not have to participate in local or union-level negotiations; the issue will be negotiated by a shop steward or Union and JUKO representatives. Negotiations about fixed-term employment are common at universities, so there is no need to be anxious. In practice, the process is started by contacting your local chief shop steward. The negotiation route can be utilised even if the member’s employment relationship with the university has already ended.
If the matter cannot be settled through negotiations, it can still be forwarded to the district court or labour court to be settled under the Union’s legal protection benefit.
It is important to retain all fixed-term employment contracts for negotiations and possible court settlements.
Reasons to assess the legality of fixed-term employment:
- The employee has had several consecutive fixed-term contracts with the same employer.
- The employment contracts do not state a reason for fixed-term employment.
- The reason for fixed-term employment reads “post doc” or other career-stage-related term.
- The employee has been performing the same tasks for a long time, but the reason for fixed-term employment in the contracts is “project-based work”.
- The employee no longer has a valid employment contract but has still continued to work at the university under the employer’s approval (tacit extension).
Parental leave, sick leave, and fixed-term employment
If the employee is unable to perform their duties during their fixed-term employment due to, for example, parental or sick leave, the absence will not, as per the Employment Contracts Act, automatically extend the fixed-term employment by a corresponding period. However, many universities have a policy whereupon fixed-term employment can be extended by the period corresponding to the employee’s absence due to, for example, parental leave. Contact your local shop steward to find out more about the policy at your university.
