Fijo discontinuo: the seasonal contract that is not temporary

On Mallorca a large share of the work runs on the fijo discontinuo contract. Anyone starting in May and finishing in October usually has one — and almost everybody mistakes it for a fixed-term contract. That is the costliest misunderstanding in this area, because it costs rights that people only claim when they know about them.

What it is meant for

The law names two cases: work of a seasonal nature or tied to seasonal productive activity, and work that is not seasonal but is performed intermittently with certain, determined or undetermined periods of execution. On the island that means hotels, restaurants, beach services — everything that breathes with the season.

What the contract must state

The contract must be in writing and must reflect the essential elements of the work: among others the duration of the period of activity, the working day and how the hours are distributed. Those last two may be given as estimates; they are pinned down at the moment of the call-up.

The call-up (llamamiento)

The call-up is the core of this contract type and the point where it goes wrong in practice. The criteria and the order are set by the collective agreement, or failing that a company agreement. The law prescribes the form regardless:

• It must be made in writing or by another means that leaves a record of the notification.
• It must state precisely the conditions for coming back.
• It must be made with adequate notice.
• At the start of each calendar year the company must give the workers’ legal representation a calendar of expected call-ups — annual or half-yearly — and report the actual registrations once they happen.

Seniority: the point almost nobody knows

Under Article 16.6, fijo discontinuo workers are entitled to have their seniority calculated on the whole duration of the employment relationship, not on the time actually worked. Someone working five months a year for six years has six years of seniority, not two and a half. That feeds into severance, notice periods and collective-agreement bands. Exceptions are possible only where the nature of a condition demands different treatment and that is objective, proportionate and transparent.

Further rights in the law

• No disadvantage for exercising work-life balance rights, for absences with a right to return to the post, or for other causes justified in law or the collective agreement.
• The company must inform you and the workers’ representation about vacant ordinary permanent posts so that you can request a voluntary conversion.
• Sector collective agreements may set a minimum annual call-up period and a payment at the end of a call-up where no new one follows without interruption.
• Sector agreements may also set up a sector employment pool for periods of inactivity and allow part-time fijo discontinuo contracts.

That is a lot of “may”, and rightly so: in this contract type the applicable collective agreement decides the detail. We therefore give no deadlines in days and no amounts here — they differ by sector, and a figure from hospitality would be wrong for the trades. Ask in the interview which collective agreement (convenio colectivo) applies; it is a normal and reasonable question.

What this means on Vokaro

Whether a role is year-round or seasonal is not buried in the description — it is a field on the listing itself and you can filter by it. Listing pages additionally count how many roles in a selection are year-round and how many are seasonal.