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Agency Worker legislation met with mixed response

Changes in employment legislation coming into force next month are set to give some agency workers the same rights as employees.

As of October 1, agency workers who work for 12 continuous weeks will be entitled to the same basic employment and working conditions that employees have.

From the first day of a temporary contract, the bosses must provide access to facilities such as canteens and childcare, as well as information on relevant job vacancies within the business.

Once workers have completed the 12-week qualifying period, employers must also give them key elements of pay such as salary, overtime pay, shift allowances, bonuses, lunch vouchers and annual leave pay.

The changes will coincide with the rise in national minimum wage, from £5.93 to £6.08 per hour.

However, the new legislation is likely to raise a number of questions for employers, who will be forced to address the traditional relationship of employer and employee.

David Gibson, employment law specialist at Newcastle based law firm Crutes, commented: “This is all about trying to achieve a more level playing field for workers, and making sure that their employment rights are fair.

A new report by law firm Allen & Overy has the highlighted potential problems, suggesting that 500,000 temporary employment contracts could be threatened.

A survey of 200 HR professionals showed that a third of medium to large UK businesses may be planning to terminate agency worker contracts before the 12-week qualifying period comes into play, in a bid to avoid increased costs.

The report estimates that the cost of providing equal benefits to agency workers could total £1.3billion for businesses, an average cost of £1,755 per worker.

Stefan Martin, employment partner at Allen & Overy said: “The advantages of using a flexible workforce during the current economic climate will be compromised as employers feel the burden of additional rules and regulations.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .