Clause 4(1) of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work, annexed to Council Directive 1999/70/EC, precluded a national rule which provided that for the termination of fixed-term contracts of more than six months, a fixed notice period of two weeks would be applied regardless of the length of service of the worker concerned, whereas the length of the notice period for contracts of indefinite duration was fixed in accordance with the length of service of the worker concerned and could vary from two weeks to three months, where those two categories of workers were in comparable situations.

The Court of Justice of the European Union so held on a preliminary reference in Polish proceedings between Ms Nierodzik, a nursing assistant, and her former employer, Samodzielny Publiczny Psychiatryczny Zakład Opieki Zdrowotnej im dr Stanisława Deresza w Choroszczy (Dr Stanisława Deresz Public and Independent Psychiatric Health Care Institution, Choroszcz), concerning the termination of a fixed-term contract between Ms Nierodzik and that institution. The request concerned the interpretation of clauses 1 and 4 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work concluded on 18 March 1999 (“the Framework Agreement”), annexed to Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP (OJ 1999 L175, p 43)

THE COURT (Eighth Chamber) said that clause 4(1) of the Framework Agreement laid down, in respect of employment conditions, a prohibition on treating fixed-term workers in a less favourable manner than comparable permanent workers solely because they had a fixed-term contract or relation unless different treatment was justified on objective grounds. The definition of “employment conditions” within the meaning of clause 4(1) included the notice period for the termination of fixed-term employment contracts. Different treatment with regard to employment conditions as between fixed-term workers and permanent workers could not be justified on the basis of a criterion which, in a general and abstract manner, referred precisely to the term of the employment. If the mere temporary nature of an employment relationship were held to be sufficient to justify such a difference, the objectives of Directive 1999/70 and the Framework Agreement would be negated. Rather than improving the quality of fixed-term work and promoting equal treatment as required by Directive 1999/70 and the Framework Agreement, recourse to such a criterion would perpetuate a situation unfavourable to fixed-term workers: see Valenza v Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (Case C-302/11) [2013] ICR 373.