New legislation governing fixed term contracts has come into force.
From 1 October 2002 the Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 became law, implementing the European Directive on Fixed Term Work.

The regulations, designed to prevent employers discriminating against fixed term employees, introduce a number of rights and duties:

  • those on a fixed-term contract must not be treated less favourably than a permanent employee, unless the treatment can be justified;
  • a fixed-term employee has the right to receive a written statement of reasons, within 21 days, if they believe they have been less favourably treated;
  • employers are expected to advertise permanent vacancies so that fixed-term employees are deemed to be reasonably aware of such vacancies;
  • successive fixed-term contracts will be limited to four years, subject to limited exceptions;
  • fixed-term employees will no longer be able to waive their right to statutory redundancy payment;
  • it will become unlawful to exclude fixed-term employees from occupational pension schemes if comparable permanent employees are eligible, unless it can be objectively justified;
  • dismissal of an employee seeking to enforce his or her rights under the regulations will be automatically unfair.