Permanent to Fixed Term Contract question?

dac1

A scenario exists where Adam has been employed within the Marketing depart of a company for 7 years. Adam wishes for a career change to Finance. A 9 month Fixed Term Contract position arises within the Finance dept. Adam applies for this role and it turns out he is offered it. Adam will be taking a large salary reduction. The company is in the UK and so will fall under UK law.

Adam's dilemma is:
If he takes this role what happens at the end of the 9 month Fixed Term Contract if no extension to the contract is made?
Will Adam be unemployed or will Adam automatically be made permanent as he has 7 years 9 months service within the same company at the point the Fixed Term Contract comes to an end?
Remember Adam is voluntary taking this Fixed Term Contract and the continuous service will be split between 7 years permanent and then 9 months on a Fixed Term Contract.

Please respond only if you are sure of the laws/rules?
Thank you.

Guest101

Adam will be made redundant

sangie595

dac1 wrote: »

A scenario exists where Adam has been employed within the Marketing depart of a company for 7 years. Adam wishes for a career change to Finance. A 9 month Fixed Term Contract position arises within the Finance dept. Adam applies for this role and it turns out he is offered it. Adam will be taking a large salary reduction. The company is in the UK and so will fall under UK law.

Adam's dilemma is:
If he takes this role what happens at the end of the 9 month Fixed Term Contract if no extension to the contract is made?
Will Adam be unemployed or will Adam automatically be made permanent as he has 7 years 9 months service within the same company at the point the Fixed Term Contract comes to an end?
Remember Adam is voluntary taking this Fixed Term Contract and the continuous service will be split between 7 years permanent and then 9 months on a Fixed Term Contract.

Please respond only if you are sure of the laws/rules?
Thank you.

People who are wrong are quite sure they are right. If you don't know the answer already, how will you know if that are right or wrong?

It would be a redundancy situation.

74jax

I was in a fixed term contract. Of got renewed once but the second time I was class as end of contract and just left.

Guest101

74jax wrote: »

I was in a fixed term contract. Of got renewed once but the second time I was class as end of contract and just left.

If more than 2 years you had employment rights and redundubcy

steampowered

The law clearly provides that refusal to renew a fixed term contract constitutes a dismissal. See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/95.

Andrew will continue to accrue continuous employment after moving to the new role, so he will meet the 2 years' continuous service requirement for unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy pay.

This means that any decision by the employer not to renew the contract would need to be based on a 'fair' reason and follow a 'fair' procedure, within the legal meaning of those terms.

It will however be easier for the employer to justify refusal to extend a contract than it would be to justify dismissing a permanent employee. So if the employer reasonably feels that Andrew is under performing or not up to the job, it would be entitled to let him go at the end of the fixed term, and would not be required to offer him his old job back.

Nebulous2

Could Adam ask to be seconded to the post? Then he would have a position to go back to.

dac1

Thanks for your replies. So the answer is he will be made redundant. That puts a different spin on it.
Adam is waiting to see if the Fixed Term Contract (FTC) can be changed to permanent or secondment. He is wanting to know the options. He suspects that as it was advertised as a FTC it legally cannot be changed to either permanent or secondment. If he refuses it it may be passed to the next candidate and he loses out.
Tricky decision.

steampowered

He could be made redundant at the end of the contract. But, realistically, the employer would probably try to find another reason for non-renewal in order to avoid having to make a redundancy payment.

I can't think of any legal reason why the employer would be unable to change the FTC offer to a permanent or secondment role if they wanted.