Agency workers to get new rights from October
Employment Law & HR update - 02/06/2011
New regulations will come into force on 1st October
aimed at bolstering the rights of agency workers, the government
has confirmed. The regulations implement an EU Directive and
follow an agreement between the employers' organisation, the CBI
and the TUC, aimed at balancing workers' rights with business
flexibility.
The new rights that agency workers will enjoy fall into two
categories – firstly "day one rights", which workers are entitled
to regardless of length of service – and secondly, "rights enjoyed
after 12 weeks' service with one employer".
Day one rights
"Day one rights" include the right of access to facilities
provided by the business which hires the worker – including works
canteens, childcare and car parking facilities. It also
includes the right to be notified of any relevant job vacancies
when these occur.
Rights after 12 weeks
After 12 weeks in the same job, agency workers will be entitled
to equivalent terms and conditions with comparable permanent
employees. The terms and conditions included are quite
wide-ranging and include pay, rest periods, holidays and many bonus
and commission arrangements. However, they do not include
occupational sick pay, enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption
pay, redundancy pay or pension arrangements.
Advantages and disadvantages of agency
workers
The new regulations will cause business owners to re-assess the
comparative merits of agency workers and permanent employees.
Importantly, although the regulations give agency workers the
entitlement to equivalent terms and conditions as permanent staff,
the agency workers do not automatically become employees of the
hiring business. The law on the employment status of agency
workers is not affected by the new regulations.
In many cases, the flexibility of retaining experienced agency
workers might outweigh any additional costs involved – but it is
important that you understand the implications for your
business.
What you should do
If your business makes use of agency workers, between now and
October, you should review your arrangements to ensure agency
workers receive their entitlements and are used in the most
appropriate way.
- Review whether you have any agency workers already in the
business and the length of their assignments;
- Consider whether you need to review entitlements for agency
staff to use workplace facilities such as canteen, car parking and
transport facilities;
- Ensure you have procedures in place to notify job opportunities
to agency workers. In most cases, announcements on communal
notice boards should be sufficient as long as agency workers know
they should look at them;
- Put procedures in place to ensure the use of individual agency
workers is reviewed after 10 weeks and that you make a formal
decision about whether to retain the worker or not before 12 weeks'
service is attained;
- Discuss the options and costs with your employment agency;
- Ensure line managers understand these new requirements.
Key points
- From 1st October, agency workers will become
entitled to certain "day one rights" which include access to
facilities and to permanent employment opportunities
- After 12 weeks' service, agency workers become entitled to
equivalent terms and conditions as permanent staff, with some
exceptions (see below)
- Exceptions include occupational sick pay, maternity, paternity
and adoption pay, redundancy pay, and pension schemes
- The 12 week qualifying period does not include any service
before 1st October 2011.