{"id":802,"date":"2019-05-15T17:07:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T17:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marumeandfuridzo.com\/?p=802"},"modified":"2024-01-06T06:48:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T06:48:43","slug":"fixed-term-employment-contracts-in-zimbabwe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.marumeandfuridzo.com\/fixed-term-employment-contracts-in-zimbabwe\/","title":{"rendered":"Fixed Term Employment Contracts In Zimbabwe"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fixed term contract refers to a contract of employment which specifies its period of duration. Put differently, it defines when it will start and end as part of its terms. A contract of employment that does not specify its duration or date of termination or specify that it is for performance of some specific service shall be deemed to be a contract without limit of time.<\/p>\n

Our law recognizes the right of parties to agree on a contract of fixed duration and even to repeatedly renew it on the terms agreed by the parties. In UZ-UCSF Collaborative Research Programme in Women\u2019s Health<\/em> v Shamuyarira<\/em> 2010 (1) ZLR\u00a0127 (S)<\/strong> the Supreme Court held that the continued renewal of fixed term contracts over a period of time does not create a legitimate expectation of re-employment or permanent employment. \u00a0This position of the law was further affirmed in the case of Magodora & Ors v Care International Zimbabwe SC 24\/14 <\/strong>where the court held that the plain meaning of Section 12B (3) (b) is that the employee on a contract of fixed duration must have had a legitimate expectation of being re-engaged upon its termination and<\/u> that he or she was supplanted by another person who was engaged in his stead. \u00a0These requirements are patently conjunctive and the mere existence of an expectation without the concomitant engagement of another employee does not suffice.<\/p>\n

An employee who is operating on continuous renewals of fixed-term contracts is not always entitled to benefits of permanent employees like annual paid leave. Due to the fact that the fixed-term contracts will be limited each time, the employee might not be able to take annual leave because his contract may be less than a year at any given time.<\/p>\n

Pregnant workers may find themselves not entitled to full-pay maternity leave during the duration of their fixed-term contract of less than one year because section 18 of the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) only entitles paid maternity leave to an employee who had served the employer for at least one year. Further, there is no job security for the employee.<\/p>\n

Having noted the highlighted challenges arising from\u00a0 fixed term contracts, the legislature sought to intervene through Labour Amendment Act 5 of 2015 which amended the Labour Act\u00a0 by introducing Section 12 (3a) which now provides as follows ;<\/p>\n

(3a) A contract of employment that specifies its duration or date of termination, including a contract for casual work or seasonal work or for the performance of some specific service, shall, despite such specification, be deemed to be a contract of employment without limitation of time upon the expiry of such period of continuous service as is:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(a) fixed by the appropriate employment council; or<\/strong><\/p>\n

(b) prescribed by the Minister, if there is no employment council for the undertaking concerned, or where the employment council fixes no such period; and thereupon the employee concerned shall be afforded the same benefits as are in this Act or any collective bargaining agreement provided for those employees who engaged without limit of time. <\/strong><\/p>\n

By introducing this section the legislature recognized the imbalance in the negotiating power between the employer and employee hence the section, to an extent seeks to protect employees from abuse of fixed term contracts by giving permanency of employment where a certain number of renewals are attained.<\/p>\n

This provision empowered the Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare or various sectors of industry to agree through Collective Bargaining Agreements to the maximum period of renewal of a fixed term contract before it graduates into a contract without limit of time.<\/p>\n

To date the Minister is yet to wield the power in terms of this Section but some industry sectors have already utilized the provision through Collective Bargaining Agreements.<\/p>\n

These include the following examples:<\/p>\n