Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Estonian law does not always provide sufficient protection against abuse arising from the use of successive fixed-term employment contracts in academia and, on Thursday 28 May, the European Commission announced it had therefore decided to refer the country to the European Court of Justice.
In Estonia, labour law limits successive fixed-term employment to five years. If this limit is reached, the fixed-term employment is converted to a permanent contract. However, the limit only applies to fixed-term contracts concluded with less than two months between the contracts, but academia is unusual because the summer break is longer than two months, meaning that it is possible for universities to employ teachers indefinitely on fixed-term contracts covering the academic year, by interrupting the employment contract over the summer closure period.
In referring the case to the Court of Justice, the European Commission points out that the fixed-term work directive (1999/70/EC) requires “effective protection” to be provided against abuse of this nature, as does European Court of Justice case law. The Commission sent Estonia a reasoned opinion warning letter about this matter in October 2012, but Estonia has ignored the Commission's request for a change in its labour laws. (Jan Kordys)