Temporary employment
The basic premise behind legislation concerning employment relationships is that temporary employment relationships are exceptions. Permanent employment relationships that are valid for an indefinite period are the rule also in the education and training and early childhood education sector.
A public-service employment relationship or a contractual employment relationship is temporary when the expiry date of the employment has been expressed in advance.
If there are legal grounds for a temporary employment contract, the employer can generally freely decide on the length of the employment relationship. The employer is also generally under no obligation to offer new employment after the expiry of the legal fixed-term employment.
Temporary employment must be justified
There must always be legal grounds for a temporary employment contract. The grounds for temporary employment must also be entered in the ‘appointment to office’ document or the employment contract.
Legislation does not stipulate how many consecutive temporary employment relationships are permitted: the use of a temporary employment contract must therefore always be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. This means that even the first temporary employment relationship might be illegal, if the work is continuous or permanent in nature.
Grounds for temporary employment:
- substitution
- lack of qualifications
- a genuine need for temporary employment: e.g. a project or specific learning programme
- an organisational change that is under preparation
- financial uncertainty
- practical training
- the person’s own request
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