Contractor Employee vs. Fixed-Term Contractor: What's the Real Difference?

Difference Between Contractor Employee and Fixed-Term Contractor

What is the difference between a contractor employee and a fixed-term contractor (1-year) employee? Both are contractors only.

Dear Venkatesh,

I think your question could have been framed more clearly to understand its exact point.

Difference between contract labor and fixed-term contract employee

Maybe the difference you want to know is that between contract labor and a fixed-term contract (FTC) employee. A contract laborer is a person employed in an organization through a contractor. As such, there is no employer-employee relationship between the organization and the laborer. He is called "contract labor" because of his engagement in the organization arising out of the contract for service between the organization and the contractor.

In contrast, an FTC employee is an employee of the organization like any other person employed therein on a regular basis but only for a pre-fixed tenure. Therefore, he is entitled to all the employment benefits on par with his regular counterparts and terminal benefits proportionate to the length of the tenure completed in the organization.

Dear colleague, this is just to add that Mr. Umakanhan has clearly brought out the distinction between FTC and contract labor. The contractor could also engage FTC employees on his payroll for certain jobs. However, no direct employer-employee relationship between such employees and the principal employer will exist, as has been pointed out.

Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR and Employee Relations Consultant