Fixed term contract->permanent

jaffa20

Hi,

Just wondering if my next contract should be a permanent contract or not.

I've been working continuously on a fixed term contract since beginning of October 08. My current contract is ending this month. If i receive another fixed term contract, it would bring me over 4 years to the end of November.

Would i need to wait for another 6 months before i ask for a permanent contract or am i entitled to it now legally?

I'm asking this because i know a few people where i work who are still being offered fixed term contracts after 4 years and are being told that permanent contracts are out of the question.

It's starting to annoy me. I know redundancy is going to be a possibility but hasn't been finalised. When i query anything with HR, i just keep getting told that they haven't made a decision yet and they can't provide a contract yet.

How long can a company keep an employee without a contract and when can an employee take any action if they fail to provide one?

Thanks for any help.

wonski

I am going to start new thread about what is going on in my workplace recently in regards to these contracts, and their conditions, but - one thing i am sure about is that if your contract brings your time in employment to over 4 years it is considered to be permanent, regardless of it being fixed term contract. They may - however offer you one for shorter period, so in total it would not exceed 4 years (in my case - 4 months fixed term with no explanation whatsoever...) Wait to see what they going to offer.

tatli_lokma

note in particular the section highlighted red

from Citizens Information
Employees may not be employed on a series of fixed-term contracts indefinitely. There are 2 possible situations where this arises as follows:

• If an employee whose employment started before 14 July 2003 has completed 3 years’ continuous service as a fixed-term employee, the employer may renew their fixed-term contract only once for a period of no more than 1 year.
• If an employee whose employment started after 14 July 2003 has been employed on 2 or more continuous fixed-term contracts, the total duration of those contracts may not exceed 4 years.

After this, if the employer wishes to renew the employee’s contract, it must be an open-ended contract unless there are objective grounds justifying the renewal of the contract for a fixed term only.
The Unfair Dismissal Acts 1977–2007 contain a provision aimed at ensuring that successive temporary contracts are not used in order to avoid that legislation. Where a fixed-term or specified-purpose contract expires and the individual is re-employed within 3 months, the individual is deemed to have continuous service.
Therefore, even where an employer excludes the unfair dismissals legislation in the manner described above, a Rights Commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal will consider whether the use of such contracts was wholly or partly to avoid the employee having the protection of the unfair dismissals legislation. If it is considered that this was the case and the contracts were not separated by more than 3 months and the job was at least similar, then the case can be dealt with as if there was continuous employment and the employer will be required to justify the dismissal in the normal manner.

You are not now legally entitled to a permanent contract unfortunately. However if you take the 6 mth contract now, that will bring you to November, and at that point you will have passed the 4 year period and had 2 contracts. From then on you are entitled to a permanent (or open ended) contract unless the employer has a very valid reason not to.

I would sign the 6 mth contract ASAP, because by doing this you are securing your employment (in so much as you can secure any job) to November, which gives you your 4 years. Push it now, and they might just withdraw the offer or only give you 4 mths, which would leave you short of 4 years. They may not even realise the implications of you working until November. Once November comes, if you are offered a new contract ensure it is open ended.

Regardless of your status as a fixed term contract employee, once you have completed the minimum 104 weeks employment you will still be entitled to your redundancy, so don't worry about that until you have to.