In Fraser v Stolt Offshore Ltd [2003] All ER (D) 185 (Apr) EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that an employer can issue a warning to a fixed-term employee that will be valid for a longer period than the fixed-term contract. The warning will carry over into the next contract and the employee does not have to be notified of this when he accepts the next contract.
In Brown and others v Knowsley Borough Council the EAT upholds an industrial tribunal's ruling that a temporary teacher employed by a local authority on an MSC funded course was engaged under a contract for a specific purpose (ie a contract to last only for so long as was necessary to fulfil its purpose).
When the fixed term contract of a temporary employee expires without being renewed, the test of fairness may be less stringent than would be adopted for an employee whose status was not seen from the start as temporary. This is one of the points to emerge from Gwent County Council v Lane and Terry v East Sussex County Council.