The CJEU recently ruled on the abusive use of fixed-term employment contracts.
In so doing, the CJEU emphasized that the renewal of fixed-term contracts to cover needs which are not in fact of a temporary but of a permanent nature is not justified under the Framework Agreement on Fixed-term Work. Thus, according to the Court, the European Union law does not preclude national legislation which treats the use of successive employment contracts as abusive where those contracts exceed a certain time limit.
However, national legislation which penalizes the abuse of fixed-term contracts by keeping the worker in employment until the selection procedures have been completed, as well as the organization of those procedures and the payment of financial compensation to unsuccessful candidates, is incompatible with Union law, if those measures are not proportionate or sufficiently effective and dissuasive to ensure the full effectiveness of the rules adopted under the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work.
Finally, the Court has also pointed out that, where national legislation does not provide for appropriate measures to prevent and penalize the abuse of successive fixed-term contracts, the conversion of such contracts into employment contracts of indefinite duration may constitute such appropriate measure, provided that the conversion does not require an interpretation contra legem.
