AGENCY WORKERS - MORE DRAFT REGULATIONS
 The UK has until 5 December 2011 to implement UK law to have effect to the European Directive on Temporary Agency Workers.
It should be noted that neither the Directive nor the draft regulations seek to change the status of agency workers - that is they are not to be classified, in most cases, as employees. However, the primary aim is to ensure equality of treatment in relation to “basic working and employment conditions” between temporary agency workers and employees. The guidance to the Regulations states that basic working and employment conditions includes formal pay scales, collective agreements and conditions in company handbooks.
The proposed Regulation go further than the European Directive by stating that it also refers to terms that have been established through custom and practice. Thus employers will need to identify if terms and conditions have been established by custom and practice and if so what they are. These can often be informal and can include arrangements on the shop floor which senior management may know little about.
An agency worker will need to work for a period of 12 weeks on the particular assignment before they become entitled to equal treatment. The Regulations stipulate that for it to be deemed an assignment the worker needs to be in the same role with the same hirer. The Regulations confirm that to constitute a new role it will need to be substantially different work or duties with the same hirer. The interpretation of ‘substantially different’ should prove interesting.
It should be noted that both the Agency and the hirer can be liable for infringements of the Regulations. However, it does appear from the draft Regulations that the hirer is more likely to bear the burden of any breach. |
