Fixed-term employment contract

A fixed-term employment contract is one where the employee is hired on the basis that the employment ends when a stated term expires or a specific task is finished. A buyer meets the term when some inherited staff were hired for a defined term, and the sale falls inside it or the term runs out after closing. This entry covers Ontario only; check the rules where you are. See whether a buyer can change employee terms.

How Ontario treats the end of the term

Ontario’s O. Reg. 288/01 exempts from the notice and termination pay rules an employee hired on the basis that employment ends on the expiry of a definite term or the completion of a specific task, subject to subsection (2). The Ministry’s guide to the Employment Standards Act says such an employee is still entitled to notice or termination pay if the employment ends before the term expires or the task is completed, or if employment continues for three months or more after the term or task ends. The Regulation also names the case where the term expires, or the task is not yet completed, more than 12 months after the employment commences.

What to check or ask

• Ask for each fixed-term contract and check what it says about ending early.
• Check whether anyone has stayed on after the stated end date, and for how long.
• Ask whether any contract has been renewed or extended, and whether the dates match what was actually worked.