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Agency workers will be afforded equal treatment to their full-time counterparts after 12 weeks in a job, it has been announced, in a deal hammered out after six years of discussions between the government, the CBI and the TUC.
The agreement—which will see new agency worker rights outlined in legislation introduced during the next Parliamentary session—has been hailed as a victory by the TUC and the “least worst option” by the CBI.
Natalie Black, employment lawyer at Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons, says equal pay is likely to be a top priority. “While this may not be warmly welcomed by some employers, they can at least breathe a sigh of relief that various occupational benefits commensurate with long-term employment, such as sick pay and pension provision, have been excluded,” she says.
She adds that all parties must continue to work together to ensure that the competing needs of agency workers and employers are fairly reflected in the proposed legislation. “The balance is a fine one and the risk is that the new legislation will undermine a long-standing mutually beneficial relationship between agency workers and employers. Employers are also likely to consider that the agreement contradicts a recent judicial decision which found that the current status of an agency worker is a perfectly satisfactory one providing the tripartite relationships between the agency worker, the agency and its clients are sufficiently clear,” she adds.
Although the 12-week minimum period goes some way to preserving the flexibility that employers currently enjoy, she says, the TUC will have to fight hard to ensure that any anti-avoidance mechanisms, such as those preventing employers from engaging workers on repeated short term contracts, are given sufficient legislative force to enable their workers to reap the benefits of their new entitlements.
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