Mondaq Business Briefing -Herbert SmithUnited Kingdom - Fixed Term Worker Access To Occupational Pension Schemes.

(From Mondaq.com)

After some delay, the Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations will now come into force on 1 October 2002. These Regulations provide that employees who are employed on a fixed term contract basis are not to be treated less favourably than permanent employees who are engaged in similar or broadly similar work. This requirement applies to pensions as well as other terms and conditions of employment and effectively covers all workers other than those employed on a very casual basis, those employed through agencies, apprentices and government training scheme employees.

In order to assess whether a fixed term employee is being treated less favourably, it is necessary to compare his or her terms of employment with those of an appropriate permanent employee. The comparison should be with an employee who is employed by the same employer and who is engaged in the same or broadly similar work, who has similar qualifications and skills and who works in the same establishment. Where there is no suitable comparator in the same establishment, a comparator who works for the same employer at another establishment should be used.

The Regulations do, however, allow fixed term workers to be treated differently where it is "objectively justified", and provide that there will be objective justification where the terms of the fixed term employees' contract, when taken as a whole, are at least as favourable as the terms of a comparable permanent employees' contract of employment. The objective justification exception therefore allows a degree of flexibility as it means that fixed term workers' benefits can be considered as a package rather than requiring employers to provide fixed term workers with benefits that are identical to those that their permanent counterparts enjoy. The Regulations also make provision for certain fixed term employees to be deemed to be permanent where they have four or more years' continuous employment under successive contracts. There may, however, be reasons why employees are not deemed to be permanent in these circumstances, for ...