This "Brief Guide" gives information on temporary contracts of employment including fixed-term contracts, specific purpose contracts, zero hours contracts and casual contract. This document can be downloaded at http://www.collierbroderick.ie/Services/HR%20Compliance/Employment%20Contract.asp

1. Brief Guide to Fixed-term and Specific
Purpose Contracts of Employment
(This is a brief guide only and should not be considered as a comprehensive guide to fixed-term and specific purpose
Contracts of Employment)
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2. Prepared by
CollierBroderick Management Consultants
Tel: +353 1 8666426
Fax: +353 1 8666457
E-mail: enquiries@collierbroderick.ie
Web: www.collierbroderick.ie
Disclaimer
Whilst every care has been taken by CollierBroderick Management Consultants to ensure that the information
contained in this guide is accurate and up-to-date, as the guide is for information purposes, the contents of these
pages should not be relied upon as a substitute for your own independent HR or legal advice. We recommend
that you always consult a suitably qualified HR or legal professional on any specific matter before relying on any
information in this guide.
No responsibility or liability is accepted by or on behalf of CollierBroderick Management Consultants or anyone
associated with its production for any errors or omissions in the guide, nor for any use the information may be put
to.
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3. A Guide to Fixed-term and Specific Purpose Contracts of
Employment
Definitions
Some of the key definitions under Section 2 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-term
Workers) Act, 2003 are:
1. “Permanent employee” means an employee who is not a fixed-term employee;
2. “Fixed-term employee” means a person having a contract of employment entered into directly
with an employer where the end of the contract of employment concerned is determined by
an objective condition such as arriving at a specific date, completing a specific task or the
occurrence of a specific event but does not include—
(a) employees in initial vocational training relationships or apprenticeship schemes, or
(b) employees with a contract of employment which has been concluded within the
framework of a specific public or publicly-supported training, integration or vocational
retraining programme;
3. “Remuneration”, in relation to an employee, means—
(a) any consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which the employee receives, directly or
indirectly, from the employer in respect of the employment, and
(b) any amounts the employee will be entitled to receive on foot of any pension scheme or
arrangement;
4. “Renewal” includes extension and cognate words shall be read accordingly
In addition, Section 5 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-term Workers) Act, 2003 clearly
defines a “Comparable Employee” or employee with which the fixed-term worker can
compare the value of his / her contract of employment:
(1)For the purposes of this Part, an employee is a comparable permanent employee in relation to a
fixed-term employee if—
(a) the permanent employee and the relevant fixed-term employee are employed by the
same employer or associated employers and one of the conditions referred to in
subsection (2) is satisfied in respect of those employees,
(b) in case paragraph (a) does not apply (including a case where the relevant fixed-term
employee is the sole employee of the employer), the permanent employee is specified
in a collective agreement, being an agreement that for the time being has effect in
relation to the relevant fixed-term employee, to be a type of employee who is to be
regarded for the purposes of this Part as a comparable permanent employee in
relation to the relevant fixed-term employee, or
(c) in case neither paragraph (a) nor (b) applies, the employee is employed in the same
industry or sector of employment as the relevant fixed-term employee and one of the
conditions referred to in subsection (2) is satisfied in respect of those employees, and
references in this Part to a comparable permanent employee in relation to a fixed-term
employee shall be read accordingly.
(2) The following are the conditions mentioned in subsection (1)—
(a) both of the employees concerned perform the same work under the same or similar
conditions or each is interchangeable with the other in relation to the work,
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4. (b) the work performed by one of the employees concerned is of the same or a similar
nature to that performed by the other and any differences between the work performed
or the conditions under which it is performed by each, either are of small importance in
relation to the work as a whole or occur with such irregularity as not to be significant,
and
(c) the work performed by the relevant fixed-term employee is equal or greater in value to
the work performed by the other employee concerned, having regard to such matters
as skill, physical or mental requirements, responsibility and working conditions
Summary of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-term Worker) Act, 2003
Section 6(1) of the Act states that “A fixed-term employee shall not, in respect of his or her
conditions of employment, be treated in a less favourable manner than a comparable permanent
employee” – this includes equal access to training. This does not mean that the contract of
employment for a permanent employee and a fixed-term employees must be the same,
instead, contracts of employment must be of equal value.
It is important to note that there is no restriction on the duration of any single fixed-term
contract of employment (e.g. it is possible to give a once-off 10 year contract or to engage an
employee on a once-off specified purpose contract –although, in these cases, an employer
would be wise to have an objective reason as to why the employee is not being given a
contract of indefinite durations (permanent Contract).. However, the Act places two main
restrictions on the use successive (or back-to-back) fixed-term contracts of employment:
1. A Company can offer as many contracts as it likes, however, when totaled these
contracts cannot exceed a duration of 4 years;
2. When a duration of 3 years is reached, the Company can only offer 1 more contract
and this contract can only be for a maximum duration of 12 months.
Note: There is no restriction on the number of fixed-term contracts of employment which can
be given. Instead, the restriction is on the duration of successive or back-to-back contracts
of employment when added together.
That said, is it possible to break the employment or length or service of a fixed-term worker
thereby restarting the clock? Effectively, no. The Unfair Dismissals (Amendment) Act 1993
introduced a provision to prevent employers abusing employees by renewing fixed term
contracts on an indefinite basis whereby an employee, employed under a fixed term contact,
is dismissed on the expiry of the term and is then re-employed within three months under a
new contract - the nature of the work being the same or similar. If the Rights Commissioner,
the Employment Appeals Tribunal or the Circuit Court consider that the employer was
deliberately trying to avoid restrictions under employment legislation relating to fixed-term
contracts of employment, the employee will retain continuity of employment (including any
break in service) and the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2001 will apply to the dismissal.
Exclusion of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977-2001
When giving a fixed-term contract of employment, the Company would be wise to exclude
the provisions of the unfair dismissals legislation from the natural termination of the contract
by inserting a clause such as:
“This is a fixed term contract of employment and therefore the provisions of the Unfair
Dismissals Acts, 1977-2001, will not apply to the termination of this contract where
such termination is by reason only of the expiry of this fixed term” (Fixed-term
Contract of Employment)
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5. “This contract will terminate once the specified work has been completed and the
provisions of the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977-2001 will not apply to such termination”
(Specific Purpose Contract of Employment
Note: While the provisions of the unfair dismissals legislation may be excluded from the
natural termination of the contract – be it fixed-term of specific purpose – the employee can
still take a claim under the unfair dismissals legislation should the contact be terminated
during the term of the agreement and should the employee hold the required elements which
will allow him / her to take a case (e.g. 12 months continuous service, etc).
Objective Justification for Giving a Fixed-term or Specific Purpose Contract of
Employment (Instead of a Contract of Indefinite Duration)
Section 8(1) of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-term Workers) Act, 2003 states that the
Company must inform, in writing, as soon as reasonably practical, the objective condition
determining the contract (i.e. what will result in the end of the contract of employment – a
specific date, event, etc). In addition, Section 8(2) of the Act states that “where an employer
proposes to renew a fixed-term contract, the fixed-term employee shall be informed in writing by the
employer of the objective grounds justifying the renewal of the fixed-term contract and the failure to
offer a contract of indefinite duration, at the latest by the date of the renewal”.
One of the most commonly asked questions which we receive in relation to fixed-term and
specific purpose contracts of employment is “Does there have to be objective justification for
an employer to enter into a fixed term arrangement in the first place”? Simply put – No. An
employer does not have to specify their objective justification for entering into a fixed-term
contract of employment in the first place. However, an objective justification will have to be
offered for all renewals of the fixed-term contract and the failure to offer a contract of
indefinite duration.
Objective justification will turn on the individual facts and circumstances of each case.
However, in general, the following issues are likely to be considered to be objective
justification:
Where the post is funding dependent and the employer is genuinely not aware
from one year to the next as to whether funding will be available for the
position;
Temporarily replacing an individual who is acting /seconded in another post;
Temporarily replacing an individual who is availing of statutory leave (e.g.
Maternity Leave, Parental Leave, Carer’s Leave, etc);
Temporarily filling a vacant post that is pending establishment;
A specific project that is time limited and funding dependent;
The purpose of the post being the employment of specialist expertise not
already available within the organisation;
Business demand can be clearly demonstrated as particularly uncertain;
There is a pending restructuring of staff within the organisation.
Penalisation of a Fixed-Term Worker
Another of the most commonly asked questions we get asked is “If a fixed term employee is
terminated at the end of the contract, are there any repercussions for the employer if he / she
subsequently fills the job of another fixed-term worker or makes the position a permanent
one for the new incumbent”? Section 13 of the Fixed Term Workers legislation deals with
penalisation of employees and prohibits penalisation of the employee by way of termination
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6. of a contract. If it could be shown that the termination of the contract / dismissal of the
employee was to avoid the employer’s obligations under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-
term Workers) Act, 2003 then the employee would have a cause of action against the
employer. Furthermore, the employee may have a cause of action under the Unfair
Dismissals Acts, 1977-2001 if the Employment Appeals Tribunal was satisfied that the
termination of the fixed term contract was purely to avoid obligations under the Unfair
Dismissals legislation.
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7. For
Contracts of Employment
Policies and Procedures and Employee Handbooks
Employment Law Advice
HR Support
Contact
Helena Broderick
Managing Consultant
Tel: +353 1 8666426
Mob: + 353 87 9074843
E-mail: hbroderick@collierbroderick.ie
Services are available nationwide through our team of experienced HR and employment law
specialists
Web: www.collierbroderick.ie
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