Fraudulent contracting of work: Abusing fixed-term contracts (Belgium, Estonia and Spain)

Employment relations remain defined vis-à-vis the standard employment relationship (permanent, full-time, direct). Fixed-term contracts are therefore understood as non-standard employment contracts by which an employer hires an employee for a fixed duration. The main difference between permanent and fixed-term contracts is the certainty, in the latter employment situation, of the expiry date. This characteristic allows for fixed-term relations to be terminated usually at a lower cost than open-ended contracts, as they are built to end at the expiry of the contract.‘Fixed-term employment’ often co-exists with, or is used as a synonym for, ‘temporary employment’. However, temporary employment is a more comprehensive concept, usually referring to situations that, in different contexts, affect workers with various non-permanent contracts – such as training or temporary agency work contracts.