Is the Existing Model of Preventing the Abuse of Fixed-Term Employment Contracts in Poland and Germany Sufficient in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

The need to prevent the abuse of fixed-term employment contracts, having its legal basis in the framework agreement on fixed-term work, implemented by Council Directive 99/70/EC, may have been weakened by the tendency to become more flexible in the face of the socio-economic conditions related to the coronavirus pandemic. From the point of view of an employee, it is important to be employed under an employment contract, ultimately for an indefinite period. Long-term employment on a temporary contract is associated with the phenomenon of precarization of employment and leads to segmentation in the labour market. The purpose of this paper is to answer the questions of whether the state of pandemic affects in some way the possibility of concluding fixed-term employment contracts, in particular whether it can constitute an objective reason justifying the conclusion of such an employment contract.