Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002

The Fixed-term Employees Regulations 2002 are a UK statutory instrument aimed at protecting employees who have fixed-term contracts of employment. The regulations are in part intended to implement the European Union's Fixed-term Work Directive 1999 on fixed term workers.
They came into effect on 1 October 2002.

Law

The principle of the Directive on which the Regulations are based is that a person with a fixed-term contract should not be treated less favourably than a comparable permanent co-worker.

Implementation

It is argued that the Regulations fail adequately to implement the requirements of the directive, because they do not protect the full range of "workers" that the directive refers to. In UK labour law, the definitions of "worker" and "employee" are not the same, and the concept of a "worker" is considered broader. But the Regulations are said to apply merely to the more limited category of "employees".
Also, r.2 provides that "an employee is not a comparable permanent employee if his employment has ceased". But in a decision by the European Court of Justice, Macarthy v. Smith ECR I-01275, it was held that a woman could compare herself for the purpose of Art. 119 of the EC Treaty with her predecessor in employment.