Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002
Encyclopedia
Fixed Term Employees Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2034) form a UK statutory instrument aimed to protect employees who have fixed term contracts. It is meant to implement EC Directive 99/70/EC on fixed term workers.
), 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(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 [1980] ECR I-01275, it was held that a woman could compare herself for the purpose of Art. 119 of the EC Treaty (now Art. 141, the equal treatment provision on which the FTW Directive is based) with her predecessor in employment.
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 (see s.230 Employment Rights Act 1996Employment Rights Act 1996
The Employment Rights Act 1996 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative government to codify the existing law on individual rights in UK labour law. Previous statutes, dating from the Contracts of Employment Act 1963, included the Redundancy Payments Act 1965, the...
), 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(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
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
, Macarthy v. Smith [1980] ECR I-01275, it was held that a woman could compare herself for the purpose of Art. 119 of the EC Treaty (now Art. 141, the equal treatment provision on which the FTW Directive is based) with her predecessor in employment.
See also
- UK labour law
- Adeneler v Ellinikos Organismos Galaktos [2006] IRLR 716 (C-212/04) on objective justification for use of fixed-term contracts disclosing a genuine need, and measures employed are proportionate to that aim, and twenty days is too little to break continuity
- Del Cerro Alonso v Osakidetza (2007) C-307/05, [2008] ICR 145
External links
- Directive 99/70/EC on Fixed term workers
- Implemented under Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, SI 2002/2034
- Directive 97/81/EC on Part time workers
- Implemented under Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000The Part-time Workers Regulations 2000 is a UK labour law measure which requires that employers give people on part time contracts equal pay to people on full time contracts who do the same jobs. It implements EU Directive 97/81/EC, and forms part of the European Unions programme to combat...
, SI 2000/1551
- Implemented under Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000
- Proposed directive on Agency workers COD 2002/0149
- Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill 2007, a proposal which has currently (13/3/2008) passed its second reading. The government has announced it wishes to find a common European solution.