Susan's Legal Bits

In June 2008 Susan was interested in.....

The Agency Workers Directive

On the 20 th May 2008 a joint declaration was made by our Government, the CBI (representing employers) and the TUC (representing workers) stating their agreement to work towards a fair deal for agency workers in the UK.

This essentially means that a draft piece of legislation (which is currently going through the European Union) has been given the ‘green light’ or ‘gentleman’s handshake’ by all important parties and that it will be embraced by the UK when it comes out of it’s draft phase and is passed to individual countries to implement as law.

Because all three parties are in agreement that they want to implement a version of the legislation at some point in the future there has been some excitement in the industry ever since ! (One Gabem client phoned me on the day and asked whether he could now force his agency to pay him for not working on a bank holiday….. Unfortunately I had to tell him that it had not become law yet and we were not yet sure whether it would give him the right to claim for pay when he had not worked……)

However, the draft directive essentially states that an agency worker in the UK should receive equal treatment to that of a permanent employee after 12 weeks employment. So far all they have said is that ‘equal treatment’ will be about basic working and employment conditions and will definitely not include pensions.

As yet we have no further insight into WHEN it will become law here, or even WHAT it will cover and HOW it will effect temporary workers like you , if at all. So, for those of you that have heard about it, please be aware that it is not law just yet but it is on it’s way and we at Gabem will be keeping a very close eye on it as it progresses and develops.

To give Susan your suggestions and comments you can get in touch here.

All comments provided on my blog are for informational purposes only. My thoughts and opinions are my own with agreement from my employer as being suitable for sharing with the wider world. Any advice, or writing that might be taken as advice, should not be deemed in any way as professional Legal advice and are only the musings of a HR practioner whose sole aim is to help where she can.