Many schools are appointing employees on Fixed Term contracts without being aware of their legal rights. This can be a complex area as individual circumstances will impact the rights and entitlements of the employee.
Please see below a generic overview of the rights of a fixed term employee, however, please note individual contracts and employees will need to be discussed with a Heads HR Consultant,
Legislation ensures fixed term employees have the right to:
- Not be treated less favorably in relation to terms and conditions than any permanent employee
- Be informed of any permanent vacancies within the organisation
- Have their contract automatically converted to an indefinite contract after 4 years
- Not be selected for redundancy or be unfairly dismissed if the principle reason for the selection is because they are a fixed term employee
- Not be unfairly dismissed (after two years service)
- A minimum notice period after one months service and prior to the contract ending – NB some school staff may have increased notice periods above the statutory minimums
In addition, schools need to be aware of the redundancy modification order and the impact this has on continuous service for all school-based employees moving between education establishments. Employees covered by this Order may have entitlements based on their continuous service date. In addition, Teachers continuous service is based on their aggregated service in other state schools.
For a full review of your fixed term employees please book an appointment with your Heads HR Consultant on 0161 850 4343.
