Fixed-terms contract and a specialist employee for a project

[SueEllen]

Window if you want the ins and outs of fixed term contracts then you need to talk to an employment lawyer or someone similarly trained in a union as the type of contracts we do are completely different.

Also zero hours contracts are different from fixed term contracts. I am aware that NHS Trusts and some councils* as well as private employers use zero hours contracts.






*It is amazing how much detail some people go into their working lives on public transport.

[mudskipper]

WHS - with a FTC you'd typically be on the client's payroll for the duration of the employment.

[northernladuk]

FTCs are effectively contracts of employment. I'm not really sure why you are asking bit I think all you need to know is that they aren't cotracts as we know them, it's just a short term employment contract. Horrible things IMO but the standard way for government and some others to hire people .

[window]

1.
I found in the government website

https://www.gov.uk/fixed-term-contra...dterm-contract

the following concerning fixed-term contracts

“What counts as a fixed-term contract
Employees are on a fixed-term contract if both of the following apply:

they have an employment contract with the organisation they work for

• their contract ends on a particular date, or on completion of a specific task, eg a project
Workers don't count as fixed-term employees if:

they have a contract with an agency rather than the company they're working for

• they're a student or trainee on a work-experience placement
• they're working under a ‘contract of apprenticeship'
• they're a member of the armed forces
They may be a fixed-term employee if they're:

a seasonal or casual employee taken on for up to 6 months during a peak period

• a specialist employee for a project
• covering for maternity leave”

However I have difficulties to find the legislation where this comes from and I would like to know if someone can help.

I found out that the section 1 of the “The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002” gives a definition of a fixed-term contract but the last part

“They may be a fixed-term employee if they’re:
• a seasonal or casual employee taken on for up to 6 months during a peak period
• a specialist employee for a project
• covering for maternity leave”

Is not in this piece of legislation so it could have been added later but the issue is to know in which legislation.

2.
I would like to know if the purpose of this last part of this law is to prevent employers from using zero hours contracts like fixed-term contracts but without giving the same right to the workers because the difference could be important because with a fixed-term contract an employer cannot remove someone from a project without a good reason

We can say that in theory a worker who is a specialist employee in a project who is in a contract that his employer called a zero hours contract can refuse work but in reality if he does this too much he would be removed from the project

3.
In this last part of this law it is made reference to

“• a specialist employee for a project”

I would like to know if someone has a definition of what could be a ‘specialist employee for a project’