There were predictable yells of complaint from employers last week when the government finally showed Parliament draft regulations that will give temps similar rights to permanent staff after 12 weeks of work. There were threats of contract workers being ditched en masse and permanent staff being forced to work harder and longer to make up for it.
The rules will add up to £1.9 billion a year to the wage bill of companies in Britain, according to a regulatory impact assessment from the government.
But despite the protests and threats, the new rules will not give agency workers anything like the same conditions as permanent staff and some small companies may wriggle out of them altogether if their permanent staff all have individually negotiated contracts.
The rules are intended to implement the EC Agency Workers Directive. They will come into force in October 2011, just two months before the EC deadline. It is safe to say Britain is dragging its feet about this Directive. It has taken about eight years to get to this stage and, the 12 week delay before agency workers can claim their new rights, is the result of industry lobbying.
Agency workers will be able to claim the same pay and bonuses, work and rest time and annual holidays as their permanent colleagues. They will also be allowed to use staff canteens, and transport and child care perks provided by the company and be told about and allowed to apply for internal vacancies.
There is, however, a much longer list of employee benefits that agency workers will still be excluded from. This includes pensions, redundancy, sick pay, maternity and paternity pay, performance related pay, and paid time off for union duties.
The rules are only likely to give agency workers equal treatment to permanent staff if the permanent staff enjoy conditions which apply generally to the work force such as a company wide pay scale, a company handbook or a collective agreement. This could mean that small companies without general arrangements and pay scales, may be exempt.
It is a good idea for those using agency staff to start thinking about the rules in plenty of time. The government will publish more guidelines about how to make the changes soon.
Peta Fluendy is employment law consultant at Sutton based De Brett and Co
http://www.debrettlaw.co.uk/
employmentlawconsultant@gmx.com
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