Types of Employment Contracts: Understanding Your Options
Indefinite Term Contracts
An indefinite term contract, also known as a permanent contract, is one that does not have a specified end date.
Regular Permanent Contracts
Regular permanent contracts establish full-time employment and do not require special characteristics for the people who are hired, nor do they provide special benefits to the companies that perform them.
Contracts for the Promotion of Permanent Employment
These contracts aim to promote stable or permanent employment for certain groups that experience difficulties in the labor market. They also facilitate the transformation of temporary contracts into indefinite ones.
Features: If a worker is fired for objective reasons and the dismissal is declared inadmissible, they are entitled to compensation of 33 days per year of service, up to a maximum of 24 monthly payments.
Training Contracts
Training contracts cover temporary needs of firms while providing training to the employee. The duration cannot exceed two years. There are two types: contracts for training and contracts for work experience.
Work Experience Contracts
- The employee must possess a university degree or a professional training qualification (middle level or above).
- No more than four years should have passed since the completion of the relevant studies, or six years if the worker is disabled.
- The contract duration can be up to two years.
Training Contracts
- Aimed at individuals over 16 and under 21 who do not have the qualifications required for a work experience contract.
- The contract duration cannot be less than 6 months nor more than 2 years.
- 15% of the working hours, as per the collective agreement, must be devoted to theoretical training.
- Wages cannot be less than the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) in proportion to the hours worked.
Fixed Term Contracts
Fixed term contracts are used for:
- Performing a specific task or service.
- Addressing market conditions, accumulation of tasks, or over-ordering.
- Replacing employees who are entitled to reserve their job (e.g., maternity leave).
Temporary Work Agencies (ETT)
Temporary Work Agencies (ETT) are companies that recruit workers and then lease them to other companies in the labor market. This creates a triangular structure involving the worker, the ETT, and the user company. The ETT concludes a contract for making the worker available to the user company.
Contract of Supply
This is the contract between the temporary work agency and the user company. It must be made in writing on the official form.
Salary of ETT Workers
The salary of an ETT worker must be at least the lowest established in the collective agreement applicable in the user company for the same job. The worker is entitled to extra pay and a final settlement of vacation time.
Part-Time Contracts
A part-time contract is concluded when the provision of services is for a number of hours per day, month, or year that is less than the working day of a comparable full-time worker. It can be for an indefinite or fixed period and must be formalized in writing on the official form. Overtime can only be done when the contract is indefinite.
Fixed-Discontinuous Contracts
Fixed-discontinuous contracts are concluded for activities of a discontinuous nature (not lasting all year) that repeat every year.
Fixed-Discontinuous Contracts with a Certain Date
These contracts are for activities that repeat on certain dates every year.
Fixed-Discontinuous Contracts with an Uncertain Date
The beginning of the activity can vary from year to year due to factors such as weather. The company is required to call the workers every time they resume activity.