Subsequent time limit: Career tips: Does an open-ended contract always remain open-ended? | message

In contrast to a fixed-term employment contract, an open-ended contract does not contain a predetermined expiry date on which the employment relationship automatically ends. The term thus extends purely theoretically until retirement. Such an agreement removes a lot of worries for employees. You no longer have to worry about an extension or look for new positions. In addition, the higher job security makes it possible to think more about topics such as house building and starting a family. But is an open-ended contract really a kind of guarantee that an employee can work for the company in question without any time limit? Or is the employer allowed to retrospectively limit the employment relationship again to a fixed period of time?

Subsequent time limitation possible, but not without reason

As Peter Meyer, specialist lawyer for labor law in Berlin and member of the executive committee of the labor law working group in the German Lawyers’ Association, told the news channel n-tv, a subsequent time limit on an employment contract is rare, but basically possible. In order to clarify the matter, a look at the Part-Time and Temporary Employment Act (TzBfG for short) must be taken, as this contains corresponding regulations. Paragraph 14 of the TzBfG deals with the admissibility of the time limit and stipulates in the first paragraph that the time limit of an employment contract is permissible “if it is justified by an objective reason”. According to the law, such a reason can be a temporary company need for work, a time limit following training or study or an employment to represent another employee. In addition, there are other possible reasons for a time limit.

As an example of a subsequent time limit, Meyer gives n-tv an employee who is still in a probationary period who is supposed to replace another employee for a certain period of time due to a loss (parental leave or sabbatical). If the employer is not sure whether he really wants to employ the employee for an unlimited period after the six-month probationary period has expired, he can then appoint him as a representative for the employee who is absent, explains Meyer. For this only a new, fixed-term contract would have to replace the previous, open-ended employment contract. Due to the temporary need for representation, the change is also objectively justified.

Signing an amendment agreement

In order for an open-ended employment contract to be replaced by a fixed-term contract, according to an article of the economic forum, the employer and the employee must mutually agree on a change agreement. If this is not possible due to disputes between the two parties, the employer can still implement his project by giving notice of change. In this way, according to the economic forum, he can enforce an amendment to the employment contract, although the employee does not agree to a subsequent time limit. According to Haufe, many employees would prefer to agree to a fixed-term contract first so that in case of doubt, at least not to lose their job immediately.

Finanzen.net editorial team

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