Grounds for Concluding a Fixed-Term Contract

Temporary posts

An employment contract may be made for a fixed term if the employment in question is a temporary post, where the employee is employed as a stand-in to replace the employee holding such position permanently. The temporary post must be individualized with the assistance of the absent employee and his/her work assignments. The reason for the temporary post may be any absence or leave, most commonly maternity or parental leave. Consequently, the duration of the temporary post may vary considerably, from a day to several years. It is also possible to conclude several consecutive fixed-term employment contracts if there is a justifiable reason for doing so.

Practical training

A fixed-term employment contract may be concluded for practical training. This means e.g. compulsory work experience in official educational training programs or work experience for the purposes of student selection. It is not necessary for the practical training to include teaching.

Demand instability

Demand instability when starting a certain business may also be a justifiable reason for concluding fixed-term contracts. Demand instability is, however, not a sufficient reason on its own, but it must be related to the start-up of a business activity or a substantial expansion of such.

Seasonal work

It is possible to conclude fixed-term contracts in seasonal work. Fixed-term contracts based on seasonal work are common, for example in agriculture and forestry, tourism, ice cream and soft drink industries, asphalt industry, forest management and in hospitality sector. Seasonal variation in workload can also be seen before Christmas Holidays, and both in seasonal sales and in clearance sales. The work is seasonal when temporary employment is needed for only rather brief time. If the work is done repeatedly for example nine to ten months a year, it cannot be considered seasonal.

Delivering a specific order

The employer is allowed to employ fixed-term employees for a period of a specific order, if the delivery that absolutely requires. In these situations the ground for fixed-term contracts is the employer’s reasonable cause to assume that after the delivery there would be no other tasks for the employers in question.

Evening out Production Peaks

If the employer has a business-related or task-related justified ground, such as evening out production peaks and changes in volume of orders, he/she can conclude a fixed-term employment contract.

Public Support

In legal praxis it has been considered that there a ground for a fixed-term contract when the employer receives employment subsidy or support for employing from public authorities and the contract is especially concluded for the period of the subsidy.