Contract question?

I am me123

What is an open contract in a job? Does a contract such as this have a specific end date?
I have such a work contract and was informed it was to be for a ' minimum of 8 weeks'.

OMM 0000

I don't know the legal definition of this, but we use "open contracts" with all our contractors.

Basically it means we'll keep going until either you want to leave or we have to let you go. We are reasonable so unless there's something major going on we'd ask the person to finish up whatever they're working on or hand it over to someone else and answer whatever questions they have so it goes smoothly.

I would try to give the people as much notice as possible that their contract will come to an end.

Note I'm in Asia so I don't know if there are some laws in Ireland regarding "open contracts" having to become permanent after a certain amount of time (I suspect there is).

EDIT:

Multiple renewals of a fixed-term contract

You can’t employ workers on a series of these indefinitely.

If you employ someone on two or more continuous fixed-term contracts, the total duration of those contracts must not be more than four years.

After 4 years of employment, if you would like the employee to continue to hold the position, you must offer the employee a permanent position.

Not sure if "open contracts" have a similar thing.

dennyk

An "open contract" in Ireland is just a normal employment contract, as opposed to a fixed-term employment contract with a specified end date or other ending conditions (e.g. "when project X is delivered").

Dav010

Isn’t an open contract the same as indefinite duration, ie permanent?

newbie18892

In regards to the civil service, i have been told that you can never become permanent from an open contract like you get as a TCO

OMM 0000

Dav010 wrote: »

Isn’t an open contract the same as indefinite duration, ie permanent?

Not really the same.

For example, if you apply for a mortgage and you're an employee, you generally need to be a permanent employee.

Salary Certificate (available in all branches and on aib. ie) to be completed and stamped by your employer confirming permanency and basic salary

https://aib.ie/content/dam/aib/personal/docs/our-products/mortgages/mortgage-checklist.pdf

dennyk

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Not really the same.

For example, if you apply for a mortgage and you're an employee, you generally need to be a permanent employee.



https://aib.ie/content/dam/aib/personal/docs/our-products/mortgages/mortgage-checklist.pdf

The OP's specific contract might be unusual (no way to know without seeing the whole thing), but in general, they are in fact the same thing; an "open-ended" contract is generally one without an end date, meaning the employee is effectively permanent (or as permanent as any employment relationship can be). It's possible an employer might make some sort of internal distinction between "open-ended" and "permanent" contracts, but from the standpoint of legislation, such as the Unfair Dismissals Acts, they'd effectively be the same thing.

Now, it is possible the OP's contract is actually a "specified purpose" contract, which is a type of fixed-term contract that is based on completion of a particular task or project rather than having a fixed end date, e.g. "Until Project X has been released...". Calling that an "open" contract wouldn't be the correct terminology, but it's possible their employer could be using that term incorrectly to differentiate their specific-purpose contracts from their fixed-term contracts which specify a particular end date. We can't know without seeing the contract itself, though.

I am me123

Thanks for the replies everyone.
From what I've stated in the original post, i.e. 'open contract' for a minimum of 8 weeks' does that imply that an employee with such a contract is only guaranteed the time specified above, but is there ever a possibility of being kept for longer?
I am currently approaching the 8 week mark by Christmas. My contract also stated a 3 month probation period & I will be 3 months in by end of January next year.

Dav010

At a risk of stating the obvious, perhaps you should consider asking your employer.