Temporary and periodical jobs cause uncertainties in practice, particularly regarding the boundary between work outside the employment relationship and work which, by its nature, has the characteristics of an employment relationship. Incorrect application of this legal institute, as well as its abuse in cases where this form of engagement is used for jobs of a permanent and continuous nature, may have significant legal consequences for employers.

The Labor Law regulates the contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs as one of the ways of engaging labor, whereby no employment relationship is established. Therefore, the engaged person does not have the status of an employee, and the rights and obligations that the Labor Law guarantees exclusively to employees cannot apply to such person.

What Are Temporary and Periodical Jobs?

For performing jobs whose nature is such that they do not exceed 120 workdays in a calendar year, an employer may conclude a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs.

Temporary jobs are short-term jobs performed continuously during a certain period of time, such as, for example, temporary data entry and processing, logistical support during the relocation of business premises, arranging archival material, and similar jobs.

Periodical jobs are also short-term jobs, but they are not performed continuously; rather, they are performed from time to time, or as needed. Examples include jobs related to the organization of performances, events, promotional activities, stocktaking, and similar jobs.

Temporary and periodical jobs are often referred to in legal terminology as a single term. However, a contract may be concluded only for periodical jobs, only for temporary jobs, and it may also cover a combination of both.

An essential characteristic of these jobs is that they may not exceed 120 workdays in a calendar year. These are workdays, which do not include days on which the person was not engaged under the said contract. The number of workdays may not be exceeded. Also, the limitation on the number of days is linked to the calendar year, i.e. the period from 1 January to 31 December.

If one person has already been engaged in one calendar year for the maximum duration of 120 workdays, there is no possibility of extending that contract, nor concluding a new contract for performing the same jobs in the same calendar year. Although the law does not prescribe how many times a contract may be concluded between the same parties, it is necessary to take the stated limitations into account.

Another important characteristic of this contract is that it concerns jobs which are by their nature short-term and which occur temporarily or periodically. A contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs should not be used for performing jobs for which the employer has a permanent need, especially if those jobs are systematized by the employer’s general act.

The law does not provide that these cannot be jobs within the employer’s business activity, as is the case with a contract for services. Precisely the fact that a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs may also be used for jobs that fall within the employer’s business activity increases the need to clearly establish that there is no permanent and continuous need for those jobs.

Who Are the Contracting Parties?

A contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs is concluded by the employer and a natural person who undertakes the obligation to perform a certain job.

The natural person with whom the contract is concluded may be:

• an unemployed person;
• a part time employed person – up to full working hours;
• an old-age pension beneficiary;
• a member of a youth or student cooperative, in accordance with the regulations on cooperatives.

One of the dilemmas is whether an employee who is already in an employment relationship with the employer may conclude a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs with the same employer. If the employee is employed part time, there are no obstacles for that employee to conclude a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs with the same employer for jobs that are not systematized and that fall within the category of temporary and periodical jobs, up to full working hours.

Form of the Contract

A contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs must be concluded in writing. The elements of the contract itself are not specifically prescribed by the Labor Law, but, in addition to information on the contracting parties and the date and place of conclusion of the contract, it is important to state the type of jobs that are the subject of the contract, a description of those jobs, the place where they will be performed, the manner of performance, the time of engagement, the period for which the contract is concluded, as well as the amount of remuneration for the work performed.

In addition to the above, it is advisable to regulate the deadline and method of payment of remuneration, the rights and obligations of the contracting parties, as well as the conditions under which the contract may terminate before the expiry of the period for which it was concluded.

Rights of the Work-Engaged Person

A person engaged outside the employment relationship based on a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs does not have the status of an employee within the meaning of the Labor Law. Rights such as the right to annual leave, leave of absence, meal allowance, annual leave allowance, and reimbursement of transportation costs are some of the rights that this category of engaged persons does not exercise through work outside the employment relationship.

If the employer wishes to recognize certain rights for the work-engaged person, for example reimbursement of transportation costs or meal allowance during work, such rights must be expressly provided for in the contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs.

Although a person engaged on the basis of a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs does not have the status of an employee, on the basis of this engagement they acquire the status of an insured person under mandatory social insurance and thereby acquire the right to health insurance, pension and disability insurance, as well as unemployment insurance.

Termination of a Contract on Performing Temporary and Periodical Jobs

Given that this is not an employment relationship, a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs may terminate upon expiry of the term for which it was concluded, by agreement of the contracting parties, by death of the natural person, bearing in mind that this is an intuitu personae contract, as well as for other reasons provided for by the contract itself.

Since a person engaged on this basis does not have the status of an employee, the employer is not obliged to conduct the legally prescribed procedure for termination of an employment contract, nor do the legally prescribed notice periods applicable to employees apply.

Abuse of Temporary and Periodical Jobs

A fixed-term employment contract, unlike a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs, is a contract by which an employment relationship is established. Its duration is determined in advance by objective reasons justified by a time limit, the completion of a specific job, or the occurrence of a specific event, for the duration of such needs.

The reason for concluding a fixed-term employment contract is the existence of the employer’s time-limited need for the work of a particular employee. Such need may also exist within the employer’s regular organization of work, but it must be objectively limited by time, the completion of a specific job, or the occurrence of a specific event.

By contrast, the reason for concluding a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs is not the establishment of an employment relationship, but the performance of work outside the employment relationship, and only those jobs which are by their nature such that they do not exceed 120 workdays in a calendar year.

The similarity between these contracts is reflected in their time limitation. However, the essential difference lies in the legal nature of the engagement: a fixed-term employment contract establishes an employment relationship, while based on a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs, work is performed outside the employment relationship.

Precisely because of this difference, in practice a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs is often abused for the purpose of concealing an employment relationship. The legal nature of a contract is not determined by its title, but by the actual substance of the legal relationship established by it.

If a person, on the basis of a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs, performs jobs that are neither temporary nor periodical, but are performed continuously at the employer, constitute part of the employer’s regular business activity, or are systematized by the employer’s general act as jobs for which there is a permanent need, then the issue of nullity of such a contract may arise, because its form does not correspond to the actual nature of the work.

Case law confirms that, in the event of the conclusion of several successive contracts on performing temporary and periodical jobs, it must be assessed whether these are truly jobs of a temporary and periodical nature, or jobs for the performance of which the employer has a permanent need. If it is established that the person continuously performed jobs within the employer’s business activity which, by their nature, are neither temporary nor periodical, such engagement may indicate concealment of an employment relationship.

In this regard, in the judgment of the Supreme Court of Cassation Rev2 2780/21 of 9 February 2022, the position was taken that, in the case of the conclusion of several contracts on performing temporary and periodical jobs, where the jobs concerned do not have the character of temporary and periodical jobs, but rather are jobs for the performance of which there is a permanent need and which are by their nature jobs within the employer’s business activity, it may be determined that the person established an employment relationship for an indefinite period as of the day of commencing work.

According to the position of the Supreme Court of Cassation expressed in the ruling Rev2 805/21 of 20 January 2022, in a dispute for determining the nullity of a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs, the time limit for initiating a labor dispute under the Labor Law does not apply; rather, the rule from Article 110 of the Law on Obligations applies, according to which the right to invoke nullity does not expire.

Simplified Work Engagement on Seasonal Jobs in Certain Activities

It is important to emphasize that a special law, due to the specific characteristics and conditions of seasonal work in certain activities in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors, has enabled a simplified manner of work engagement of people in jobs of a seasonal nature.

Simplified work engagement means that work may be performed without concluding a contract in writing. The employer is obliged to inform the seasonal worker of the working conditions before the worker starts work, and by the seasonal worker commencing work, it is deemed that the worker has accepted the working conditions and that an oral contract on performing seasonal jobs has thereby been concluded.

A seasonal worker has rights from health insurance only in the event of an injury at work and occupational disease, as well as rights from pension and disability insurance, in accordance with the law.

If matters concerning work engagement in seasonal jobs are not regulated by this special law, the provisions of the labor Law governing temporary and periodical jobs apply.

The Substance of the Engagement Is More Important Than the Title of the Contract

The conclusion of a contract on performing temporary and periodical jobs is justified only when the need for work is genuinely short-term, time-limited, and conditioned by the nature of the job. This contract must not serve as a substitute for an employment relationship, especially where a person is engaged in systematized jobs for which there is a permanent need. Otherwise, there is a risk that such engagement will be assessed as a disguised employment relationship. Proper assessment of the nature of the job, the duration of the engagement, and the factual relationship between the contracting parties is a key prerequisite for the lawful application of this legal institute.

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