How long can an employer keep on renewing a fixed-term contract?
An employee can be kept on successive fixed-term contracts for a limit of four years. If your contract is renewed after that you become a permanent employee. This is unless the employer can show a good reason why you should stay on a fixed-term contract. Only service from 10 July 2002 is counted towards the four-year limit. The four-year limit was introduced to prevent employers abusing the use of successive fixed-term contracts to limit employees’ employment rights. The limit can be changed by employers and employees agreeing a ‘workforce’ or ‘collective’ agreement. This agreement should then provide an alternative scheme for preventing the abuse of fixed-term contracts. Workplace or collective agreements can vary the limit on the length or number of successive contracts used by an employer. They can also limit the use of successive contracts and set a list of reasons to justify renewals of fixed-term contracts.
