Two workers placed through a temporary employment service were ruled permanent employees by December 2018 and must be reinstated with full retrospective effect to Jan. 2, 2019.
The Labour Court said their contracts failed section 198B because they recorded no end date and used the vague phrase “completion of tasks,” which it held is not a valid written reason for fixing a term.
That defect meant the employer could not rely on seasonal demand swings, rolling contracts or call-back practices to justify keeping low-paid staff on fixed terms beyond 3 months.
The court set aside a 2022 arbitration award that had treated the contracts as expired, finding the workers were unfairly dismissed when they were not called back after the annual shutdown.
The ruling reinforces that ordinary business risk cannot be shifted to below-threshold workers and that deemed-employee status can be decided within an unfair-dismissal case.