Legislation to give Britain’s 1.3 million agency workers important new rights was laid before Parliament very recently. They should be on the statute book before the end of this Parliament and become law in October next year.
As agreed in 2008 (see weekly LELR 69) by the TUC and CBI, the changes will give agency workers the right to the same pay, holidays and other basic working conditions as directly recruited staff, but only after 12 weeks in a job.
Their right to the same pay will apply not just to the basic hourly rate, but to pay for all work done, including bonuses that are directly related to the performance of the agency worker personally.
But, as set out in the Directive, they will not extend to some of the wider benefits that permanent staff can enjoy in the context of their longer-term relationship with their employer, such as occupational pensions and sick pay.
The regulations include provisions to deal with repeat contracts which are designed to prevent workers acquiring their rights. Agencies and hirers will have to pay awards of up to £5,000 to a worker if a tribunal finds that the anti-avoidance rules have been breached.
And to provide a greater deterrent in low-value cases there will be a general minimum award of two weeks’ pay, which is subject to tribunal discretion if that level of award does not seem reasonable.
Agency workers will also be entitled to other benefits from the first day of their assignment, such as:
• information about internal vacancies to give them the same opportunity as other workers to find permanent employment
• equal access to on-site facilities such as child care and transport services.