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Print articleExtensions of Fixed-Term Employment Contracts
October, 2013 - Tina Reissmann, Attorney-at-Law
By judgment of 28 June 2013, the Danish Eastern High Court found that it was contrary to the Danish Act on Fixed-Term Employment to extend a number of fixed-term employment contracts four times.
The case involved four electricians who were hired to work on a large project. It was agreed that their employment contracts were to expire on 25 September 2009 at which time the project should have been completed. However, the projects were put on hold several times as there were problems in finding workshop capacity. As such, the employer had to extend the employment contracts of the electricians three times in order to be able to complete the project. One week after the expiry of the fixed-term employments, the employer received an enquiry about another assignment, which, however, was also related to the project, and the employment contracts of the electricians were thus extended a fourth time.
The Eastern High Court did not find that the employer had proved that the time limitations in every case were based on objective grounds. The Court attached special importance to the fact that the employer had extended the employment contracts of the electricians four times and that the second extension occurred at a time when it was uncertain as to when the project could be expected to start up due to the difficulties in finding workshop capacity.
Consequently, the Eastern High Court found that the employer had violated the Act on Fixed-Term employment, and the electricians were awarded compensation of DKK 15,000. As a consequence of the violation, the electricians were entitled to ordinary terms and conditions of employment and thus had a right to salary during the notice period.
The District Court had reached the opposite result.
The judgment shows that an employee may be entitled to both a notice period and compensation under the Act on Fixed-Term Employment if the employer fails to prove that an extension of the employment contract is based on objective grounds.
