It is starting to look like there is serious momentum behind the push for more rights for agency workers. The lack of progress on the proposed European Directive and the Government’s reluctance to change the law has led to a private member’s bill (here)
This aims to give agency workers the right to equal terms and conditions with comparable employees of the end user. It would essentially mean that an agency worker working alongside a ‘direct’ employee would be entitled to the same level of pay and key benefits as that employee.
That would be a radical change, but let’s be clear that the Bill does not give agency workers the same ‘rights’ as direct employees. The Bill does not define agency workers as employees and this means that they will not be entitled to claim unfair dismissal – especially in light of the recent ruling from the Court of Appeal.
The Bill will almost certainly not become law as the Conservative opposition will vote with the Government to defeat it. However it appears that a Commission on the issue is likely and that would make some change in the law unavoidable. Now might not be a bad time to look at how many agency workers in your organisation have been around for a year or more.
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