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


Fixed Term Employees Regulations 2002 form a UK statutory instrument aimed to protect employees who have fixed-term contracts. It is meant to implement the Fixed-term Work Directive 1999 on fixed term workers.

Law

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

Implementation

It is argued that 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 thinner 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.