I think it varies from state to state in the US.  Any job in Indiana, for
example, is "at-will" unless there is a contract to the contrary.  However,
the term "permanent" generally refers to a POSITION that will exist into the
foreseeable future no matter who has it, as opposed to a "temporary"
position that will only last for the duration of the project or grant that
requires it.  I don't think any PERSON is guaranteed permanency anywhere,
nor should they be--what's the incentive to work hard if you know that no
matter what you do, you could be dumped?  In practice, most people can stay
in their jobs as long as they are fulfilling their obligations at a high
level and the institution has the funds to pay them to do so.  On rare
occasions someone will be fired in order to bring in someone else.

"Full-time" and "part-time" refer to the # of hours the person is expected
to work and be paid for and can be used either with a permanent or temporary
position.  I don't think the situation is any different for museums than for
the rest of the working world.

Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of David Clough
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 7:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: museum job terminology: full-time v permanent


Is there any such thing as a permanent job in museums?

I have some interesting feedback from an American museum client who pointed
out there is no such thing as a permanent museum job in California, both
employer and employee can terminate at will with no warning. Indeed if a
vacancy is advertised as permanent rather full-time employers might later be
vulnerable to legal action.

This contrasts with the UK, where jobs which are not constrained within a
specified contract period (1-3 years are quite common) are often termed
Permanent.

To complicate matters, UK jobs can be both permanent and part-time, as is
the case in most job share situations. Increasingly in the UK museum jobs
are full-time (that is 5 days a week), but for a specified contract period.
For either party to break the employment contract a period of notice must be
given and worked through, avoiding an instant staff void or an employee on
the street with no warning.

In order to help us customise the job terminology we use for various
countries/regions on www.museumjobs.com any feed back on this issue would be
welcome.

To avoid this issue overwhelming those who have no interest in it perhaps
anyone who has any comments could email them directly to me at
[log in to unmask]

David Clough

Editor www.museumjobs.com