ECJ: renewal of fixed-term employment contracts may be justified by replacement needs

Fixed-term employees: Successive fixed-term contracts may be justified to cover an employer's permanent or recurring need for replacement staff

Date:

14 August 2012

In Kücük v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen [2012] IRLR 697 ECJ, the ECJ held that an employer's use of 13 successive fixed-term contracts over a period of 11 years was not inherently in breach of the Fixed-term Workers Directive, but that the issue of objective justification had to be assessed by the national court on the particular facts of the case.