An individual has been employed on a number of fixed term employment contracts (consecutively, without any break in service) over a four year period in an organisation that has made a voluntary redundancy option available to its employees. Is this employee entitled to apply and to be considered?

The Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 (the “Act”) protects the rights of individuals employed as fixed term workers. The purpose of this Act is twofold, firstly, it seeks to ensure that fixed-term workers are not treated in a less favourable manner than a comparable permanent employee, unless the less favourable treatment can be justified on objective grounds. Secondly, the Act seeks to prevent the abuse of successive fixed-term contracts. The Act provides that an employer may not renew a fixed-term contract so as to bring the aggregate period of the contracts to more than four years, except where there are objective grounds justifying the renewal. Breach of these