Statutory regulation of temporary employment

The main rule is that the employee must be employed permanently. This applies both in the state, municipal and private sector. Temporary employment requires special legal authority. This means that there is no access to temporary employment if one does not meet the conditions of the law.

Statutory regulation of temporary employment

Temporary employment is not permitted if the conditions for temporary employment in the Working Environment Act, in the State Employees Act or in the Universities and Colleges Act are not met.

An employment that does not meet the requirements is illegal. The employee will then basically be entitled to permanent employment.

 

The limit for temporary employment – three year rule and four year rule

Both the Working Environment Act and the State Employees Act set a limit for how long an employee can be temporarily employed. The purpose of such a limit is to prevent abuse as a result of repeated and prolonged use of temporary employment.

Matters of transition from temporary to permanent employment are decided after a concrete individual assessment of whether the employment relationship is covered by the rules.

If the employment relationship is limited in time or interrupted only to prevent the employee from obtaining permanent employment, it will be an unfair and illegal circumvention of the law. The employee will therefore be entitled to permanent employment.

The state sector

A state employee who has been continuously employed for more than three years in the same State enterprise maybe be entitled to permanent employment. A four year rule applies to employments started before the the first of July 2017. See the sheet on the three- and four-year rule in the State Sector. See § 9 of the Government Employees Act.

The municipal and private sector

In the private and municipal sector, employees may be entitled to permanent employment after four or three years of continuous service in the business. Whether the employee has such a right, and whether it is the three- or four-year rule that applies, depends on the justification for the temporary employment. See § 14-9 of the Working Environment Act.