Fixed-term employees: Terminable contract still fixed-term

In Allen v National Australia Group Europe Ltd, the EAT holds:

• The tribunal was wrong to decline jurisdiction to hear a claim under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 on the basis that the contract in question was not a fixed-term contract for the purposes of the Regulations, it containing an express clause permitting early termination on notice.
• A contractual clause which provides for the early termination (before the expiry date) of the contract on notice by either party, by reason of exceptional circumstances, does not preclude the tribunal's jurisdiction under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, provided that the contract satisfies the primary definition of a fixed-term contract contained therein.