Fixed term contracts?

[OlafLovesAnna]

Asking for a friend honest! In a quick nutshell- I have had 3 consecutive FTC posts in the same organisation (just rolled over, not re-applying or interviewing) it seems that the post will now be advertised as a substantive job and I will formally have to apply and interview for the post.

If I don't get the job am I entitled to redundancy pay or anything? The new substantive role has a slightly different skill set so I'm by no means certain I'll get the post so I'm keen to see if I can mitigate the whole potential joblessness situation!

how long have you been there in total? Two years is the magic time period.

Sorry, that would have been helpful! 3 contracts of 1 year each with no gaps.

You would not be entitled to redundancy as your contract will had come to an end. You will however have a significant amount of experience in the role so that should benefit you in interview.

It could be unfair dismissal if they end your contract, and you will be entitled to redundancy after 2 years service, even if the contracts are fixed term.

That is incorrect Kate. The OP has three years continuous service and would therefore be entitled to redundancy pay if the role was being made redundant. However it isn't being made redundant since the employer is recruiting for it so instead she should be looking at a claim of unfair dismissal. OP talk to HR and advise them that you are aware that this would amount to unfair dismissal given that you have no breaks in service.

Actually, the post is still there, just someone else is in it, so they shouldn't be paying redundancy to you, but it's risky for them to be advertising out the post. Ending a FTC is still a dismissal and they should only end it for the reason that you were given as to why it was fixed term. Bringing someone else in after 3 years is not legal.

What reason were you given about why the post was Fixed Term in the first place, and not perm?

OP how different is the new role? If there are significant differences then it will be possible to claim redundancy pay since your role will have been removed from the structure.

You might be entitled to redundancy because if you've been with the same employer for three years albeit on three one year contracts you should be treated the same as another employee who has worked there for three years if the reason for ending the contract is because the job is redundant. Often firms try to dodge round their obligations so if you're in a Union get them involved.

There are 3 people in the department, me with 3x1 yr FTC current one ending in May, one who is 6 months into a 1 yr FTC due to end in June and one with a 1yr FTC ending in August. Those 3 FTC will be somehow amalgamated (don't know how) into 2 substantive roles which will be advertised and recruited to before the end of the financial year.

We all teach a variety of subject and were recruited to slightly different roles

The new role is slightly different in that the 2 new posts will be expected to teach 3 subject, let's say the subjects are A, B and C. I currently teach A and B and have no experience of C but could learn to teach it as it's mainly practical, the person ending in June teaches A and C but is currently being trained by the department to teach B and the 3rd person teaches C but is qualified to teach A and could learn to teach B. I know it seems a bit complicated but on paper it looks as if it's me that's least likely to get the new substantive role so I'm wondering what my options are likely to be.

Paperchains I am a bit phobic about interviews so was twice offered the opportunity to extend my FTC without applying for the job again or being interviewed so I said yes.

OK it sounds like a new role then which means that if you didn't get it there wouldn't be a clear unfair dismissal case but you would be entitled to redundancy pay as a result of your current role being removed from the structure.

Either there is a permanent post or there isn't, they shouldn't decide about the permanancy of the post based on the individual.

It sounds like a restructure - 3 posts into 2. If they are giving others the opportunity to increase their skill set, it should be afforded to all so you are within your rights ask for training on subject C.

If you don't want to interview, legally you are entitled to redundancy payment if the remaining two posts are filled by the other two people. (It gets trickier if you refuse the post and ask for redundancy instead, but that's not applicable here by the sounds of it).

Do you have access to the redundancy policy or your contract that tells you whether there is statutory or contractual pay?

What sort of rules are there re transparency in 'scoring' at interview? It's a large government organisation but I'm a bit worried it's also going to come down to a personality contest as the interviewers are likely to be known to all 3 of us.

Its difficult to get them to be fully honest of they don't want to be but you can raise a Subject Access Request for the information which means they need to share data they hold on you within 40 days of you paying the £10, or having your ID approved (if they don't charge). You could then raise a grievance if you suspect foul play (you can do this anyway of course). A SAR you could ask for emails which mention you by name or initial, between your managers over a 2 month period of somesuch, and see if they have been any underhand convos about who they want for the job.

If they unfairly dismiss you, you'd have three months from leaving to raise your concerns with ACAS and if they don't rectify it to your satisfaction, you'd raise a tribunal via a solicitors. You would then have to go to court to submit evidence about why you were unfairly dismissed. If you win, the court will award a payment to you, made up of payment for various elements.

According to ACAS redundancy may be possible but only if ending the contract early and if the contract doesn't have provision for that.

If the contract would be ending on time then the notice period needs to be followed but that's all.

They also advise that an employee on FTC for 4 or more years should be automatically made permanent unless the company can put forward a good case not to.

I'll have to check my contract then to see if them ending my contract early is even acceptable without paying me until the original end date. In theory then if they took on 2 people from outside the organisation they'd still be paying 3 until their FTC end date.

Kate, that's if the post is genuinely ending but this seems like a case of a permanent post being deleted (theres no valid reason for the post to be fixed term and appears to be a restructure of 3 posts into 2). In that scenario (true fixed post ending with correct notice) OPs length of service means a redundancy payment would be due to her too anyway.

kate I'm not sure where you're getting that information but it is wrong and if its from the acas website then I suspect you've perhaps not read the entire section? s95 and 136 of the Employment Rights Act provide that the expiry of limited term contract without renewal will count as a dismissal for the purposes of unfair dismissal, redundancy and the right to written reasons for dismissal. This means that any employee on a fixed term contract which expires without being extended or renewed will have the same employment protection rights as any other employee with the same length of service. Employees are entitled to a statutory redundancy payment after two years and so if the role is ending and will not be replaced there will be a redundancy situation and redundancy pay will be due.

If the role is continuing but the company simply doesn't want the particular employee any more then this would not on the face of it fall into one of the fair reasons for dismissal (conduct, capability, redundancy, statutory illegality or SOSR) and so the OP would have an unfair dismissal claim.