Employment: tribunal rules that advisers on fixed-term contracts should be treated the same as permanent staff

Law firms face a ‘hornet’s nest’ of problems if they do not review whether employees on fixed-term contracts should be made permanent, an employment solicitor warned this week following a tribunal judgment.


The employment tribunal found that four education advisers employed by the Department for Education and Skills must be treated in the same way as colleagues on permanent contracts when it comes to redundancy payments.


Clive Howard, a partner in the London office of Russell Jones & Walker, said the judgment could be cause for concern for law firms that employ a large number of staff on fixed-term contracts. He said: ‘The impact of this judgment is not confined to the public sector – it is equally relevant to the private sector, and particularly to law firms, which use fixed-term contracts quite widely.


‘Paralegals on six-month contracts will not be entitled to much redundancy pay, but if they are excluded from the firm’s pension or private health schemes, and there are people doing the same kind of work who do have those benefits, there is a potential for claims.’


He added: ‘The regulations have been there since 2002, but they have not been used, and there has been no case law. Employers only take things seriously when they get warnings like this.


‘Law firms should review who is on fixed-term contracts and frankly, if employees should not be on them, they should be made permanent. This is an opportunity for employers to make sure that they have people on the right contract. If they do not, they are facing a hornet’s nest of problems.’


The Department for Education and Skills has until 20 October to appeal the tribunal’s decision.