Agency Law News

Gordon Brown has promised (at the September 2009 TUC conference) to implement the below mentioned EU DIRECTIVE 2008/104/EC on pay and conditions for agency workers in the next Parliament.

05/ 01 / 2009

Agency workers are to receive the same pay and conditions as permanent staff.

In the wake of a EU DIRECTIVE 2008/104/EC on temporary agency work the government intends to pass legislation this year granting the same pay and conditions to agency workers that permanent staff receive. If the introduction of previous Directives is anything to go by the new laws will not come into force however until the last day allowed by the EU, 5th December 2011.

• A qualification period of 12 weeks' continuous work in a given post will apply.
• Article 5 of the Directive forbids employers to attempt to avoid the laws by simply dismissing workers before the 12 weeks are up (only to then re-employ them).
• Article 5 also states that the same treatment must be afforded to temporary agency and permanent workers.

Article 6 states:
• 1. Temporary agency workers shall be informed of any vacant posts in the user undertaking
• 2.There must be no contractual clauses preventing the agency worker joining the end-user company after the asignment.
• 4. temporary agency workers shall be given equal access to amenities e.g. canteen, child-care, and transport services (unless reasonably justified)

Around 500,000 (out of a million) agency workers are expected to be helped by the new law.