On Wednesday 14 September, the European Court of Justice introduced a reminder by insisting, in a ruling, on the fact that the legal framework for renewing fixed-term contracts is strictly applied in the EU: only "temporary and objective" personnel needs can justify it, even in sectors such as health.
Many member states are facing structural personnel shortages in the health sector. One way of responding to this problem is to employ people on fixed-term contracts and subsequently renewing these contracts. EU law allows for this (the 1999 framework agreement on fixed-term contracts) but only in well defined circumstances, so that abuses are prevented. The European Court of Justice has already had to reiterate this on several occasions (see EUROPE 11205, 11114), particularly with regard to rulings concerning Spain.
The case in question (C-16/15) involves this kind of contract used in a University Hospital in Madrid, where fixed-term contracts are systematically renewed because "services performed are determined by temporary, economic or exceptional circumstances". The Court believe that this again involves an abuse of the stipulated conditions because Spanish regulation allows for this practice to continue without limit with regard to the period worked or the number of times the contract is renewed.
The Court acknowledges that temporary replacement of workers in order to satisfy temporary needs may constitute an objective ground. On the other hand, it considers that those contracts cannot be renewed for fixed and permanent tasks, which normally come under the activity of the ordinary hospital staff. The objective ground must be able to specifically justify the requirement to cover temporary needs and not permanent needs. The hospital in question is experiencing a structural deficit of posts and it is for this reason that it renewed these contracts. By enabling the hospital to tackle this deficit in this way, its regulation in force is in breach of EU law, the Court concluded. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)