The employment contract made between a worker and an employer can be a permanent contract or a short-term contract. One of the main causes for which a temporary contract is in fraud of law is to exceed the maximum time of the fixed-term employment contract. This is an issue that you need to know about. So, let us learn about the maximum duration of each type of temporary contract.
In this article, we will explain why a fixed-term employment contract is risky. Also, we will explain what a fixed-term employee is and what a fixed-term contract is. In The Middle East, it is normal to have a high percentage of temporary workers. However, the legislation (although it may not seem so) tries to be restrictive in terms of this type of contract.
- Temporary limits of the contract
- Main types of contract work
- General limit only for non-training or interim fixed-term contracts
- Other causes for a contract to be in fraud of law
- Obligations of the employment contract
- Causes of temporality within the circumstances of production
- How can we help you obtain more information about employment contracts?
1. Temporary limits of the contract
1.1 Are contract jobs worth it?
All contracts before December 30, 2021, will continue to be clear by the limits indicated here without the new time limits being applicable.
1.2 What is a fixed-term contract?
The maximum duration depends on the date of the conclusion of the contract.
- Held prior to 06/18/2010. The limit is only imposed by the work that caused it. However, the duration of the contract cannot be excessive. In fact, if there is still a work contract prior to that date, it should be considered indefinite. Thus, for example, it has been considered a contract in fraud of law when it lasts more than 16 years-
- Held after 06/18/2010. The limit is 3 years, extendable 12 months by collective agreement. That is to say, this type of contract can last a maximum of four years, although the normal thing is that its limit is three.
2. Main types of contract work
2.1 Eventual contract
A short-term contract of employment may have a maximum duration of six months, within a twelve-month period.
By collective agreement, the maximum period within which the short-term employment contracts may be carried out can be modified. The maximum reference period being eighteen months, and the duration of the contract employment may not exceed three-quarters of the established reference period or, at most, twelve months.
In other words, the collective agreement may allow the duration of the eventual contract to be a maximum of one year in a period of eighteen months.
In the event that the contract has been entered into for less than the maximum duration, it may extend by agreement of the parties, for a single time, without the total duration of the contract exceeding the maximum duration indicated above.
The most frequent of these contracts is that their maximum duration is one year, without more than one renewal being possible.
2.2 Interim contract
The interim contract can be to replace a worker with the right to reserve the fixed-term position. Or to temporarily cover a fixed-term job during the selection or promotion process.
The limits are different in each case:
- In the first case of replacement of the worker, the duration of the contract will be the duration of the absence of the replaced worker. There is no maximum duration, beyond the duration of the substitution. For example, to cover a worker on temporary disability or maternity leave, a person with job reservation when on permanent disability, or with a leave of absence to care for a kid or family member.
- In the case of job coverage, it will be necessary to distinguish between the private company “the duration of the selection or promotion process for the definitive coverage of the job, without it being able to exceed three months” and that of the Public Administration “the duration of the contracts will coincide with the time that these processes last in accordance with the provisions of their specific regulations.
In the first case, the interim contract must end when the cause that motivated it ends. Otherwise, the employment relationship will be in fraud of law.
2.3 Formation and learning contracts
The least period is one year and the maximum is three.
In any case, the collective agreement may establish other durations in accordance with the organizational needs of the companies. But the minimum duration will in any case be 6 months and the maximum 3 years.
2.4 Training contract
The duration of the contract may not be less than six months nor exceed two years.
Taking into account the characteristics of the sector, the collective agreement may establish the duration of the contract within said limits.
3. General limit only for non-training or interim fixed-term contracts
In addition to each particular limit of each temporary contract, there is a general limit to avoid the chaining of temporary no-term agreement contracts.
Termed workers who in a period of thirty months have been contracted for a period of more than twenty-four months, with or without interruption, for the same or a different job with the same business or group of enterprises, through two or more impermanent contracts. Either directly or through their provision by temporary employment agreements and agencies. With the same or different fixed-term contractual modalities, will acquire the status of permanent workers.
It affects workers with two or more temporary contracts. For example, two different temporary contracts, or a temporary contract and then a work and service contract. Also, it is only applicable to works or temporary contracts and interim or training contracts are expressly excluded.
Note that this period of 24 months in 30 makes many companies leave a period of six months in which they do not hire workers to avoid this concatenation and the obligation to make indefinite contracts.
However, just waiting six months avoids being indefinite? It depends. If a contracting fraud is visible and you only wait six months to avoid the concatenation of contracts and thus the obligation to be indefinite, you can also claim that the employment relationship is indefinite.
The period of 6 months of interruption was only intended to try to avoid the indefinite relationship and continue with the illicit contracting”
4. Other causes for a contract to be in fraud of law
As we indicated at the beginning of this article, the condition of indefinite is not only when the maximum limit of a certain duration is exceeded. But that condition can also be there when the employer commits certain irregularities:
- They are not covering a temporary need, but an indefinite one.
- The written contract of employment lacks the obligations or the temporary cause that justifies it.
- He would not have registered with social security.
- Contracts that are not in writing when necessary by the law will be held for an indefinite period of time and for a full day unless proven otherwise.
5. Obligations of the employment contract
Contracts must be formal in writing. Except for those contracts that do not last more than four weeks and are full-time.
In practice, it is rare that the company does not make the contract in writing. Without it, the relationship is indefinite, unless proven otherwise. That is, the company would have to prove the existence of a temporary need. Said contract must clearly and precisely specify the nature of the contract. Also, sufficiently identify the work or service for which it is contracted.
Once the temporary cause is clear in the employment contract, for the contract to be adequate, the worker must fundamentally carry out the tasks for the temporary cause that is responsible and not others. Otherwise, the contract is practically in fraud of law and consequently, indefinite.
5.1 The trial period
One of the issues that the employment contract may portray is the existence of a trial period. If it does not appear in it, there is no trial period.
In no case, the duration established in the employment contract may exceed the limits established in the applicable collective agreement.
In other words, for a trial period to exist, it must have been expressly included in the employment contract. Regarding its duration and in the absence of a collective agreement, the duration of the trial period may not exceed 6 months for qualified technicians, nor 2 months for other workers.
In businesses with less than twenty-five employees, the experimental period may not exceed three months for employees who are not qualified technicians.
Let us remember that during the trial period, either of the two parties can terminate the employment relationship without the need for prior notice or the right to compensation. You will have the right to unemployment if the one that notifies the termination of the employment relationship is the company.
6. Causes of temporality within the circumstances of production
Circumstances of production with occasional and unpredictable increases in activity and its oscillations.
Production circumstances are the temporary and occasional unforeseen increase due to production circumstances (previously it was the one that affected the market, accumulation of tasks, and excess orders) and the oscillations that, even in the case of the normal activity of the company, generate a temporary mismatch between the stable employment available in the company (that is, generally the permanent or indefinite workforce) and the one necessary for a certain duration, providing that it does not respond to the fixed-discontinuous assumptions.
As for the occasional and unforeseeable circumstances, these are the old traditional causes. For example, the eventual, due to production circumstances, and the one we will use whenever we justify predictability, that is, depending on the intensity of the work that the company may have and justifying that with the current staff it cannot be assumed.
Then we can contract temporarily due to production circumstances for this reason. In other words, the only thing that justifies this cause -unforeseeable-, and that must be clear in the contract, is the temporary mismatch between the available employment that we have in the company and the one that it requires based on the circumstances that concur at a certain time. As long as the causes are occasional, sporadic, and unpredictable.
7. How can we help you obtain more information about employment contracts?
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We have enough expertise and knowledge to be the number one Professional Employment Organization in the Middle East. Without a doubt, you will not regret anything thanks to our contribution to your firm. Your company will join the ranks of the major players in this field.
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With the assistance and advice of EOR Middle East, you can increase your company’s productivity while remaining compliant. Contact us at [email protected] if you wish to learn about our services. We have the best agents ready to handle any requests you may have.
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