Brussels, 03/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - In order to fight the abusive use of successive fixed-term contracts, the member states can limit their maximum duration to one year and require the employer, in the event of abuse, to convert them into indefinite contracts, the Court of Justice of the EU stated in a ruling returned on Thursday 3 July.
In three related cases (C-362/13, C-363/13 and C-407/13), the European judges were asked by the Italian Court of Cassation to interpret the compliance of the provisions of the Italian rules on employment contract for seafarers with Directive 2009/13/EC, which implements the agreement on the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006, and with Directive 1999/70/EC on the framework agreement with the social partners on fixed-term work.
As the second of these directives covers all workers without exception and ultimately offers seafarers a higher level of protection than the directive relating directly to them, the Court agreed that the directive on the framework agreement should apply in the event of a dispute affecting sailors' employment contracts. The predominant principle should therefore be that of “effectively” protecting workers from abuse, such as the use of successive fixed-term contracts, as one of the major elements of protecting workers is to give them employment stability.
In line with this principle, this “effective” way of tackling abuse can, as is the case for sailors in Italy, be translated into setting preventative measures in place, such as limiting the maximum duration of successive fixed-term contracts to one year and through sanctions, such as converting these contracts into indefinite contracts, in cases in which a worker has been employed continuously (when the time elapsing between contracts is less than or equal to 60 days) by the same employer for more than a year.
Additionally, the member states can require that only the duration of the contract is stated, and not its termination date. The national jurisdictions must therefore examine the successive fixed-term contracts on a case-by-case basis in order to identify cases of abuse. In order to determine whether the maximum duration has been complied with, they may calculate the number of days actually worked, rather than the number of days stipulated in the contract, the Court states. (JK)