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Agency Workers Will Get Equal Treatment In 2011

Currently, agency workers are not entitled to receive the same benefits as workers directly employed by the business to which they are assigned. They may lawfully be paid less and receive less favourable benefits and be allocated less desirable shifts or places of work.

This will change with the implementation of the Agency Workers Directive (1). At its core is the intention of the Directive to achieve the equal treatment of agency workers with those directly employed by the end user business.

Specifically, Article 5 of the Directive provides that "the basic working pay and conditions of temporary agency workers shall be, for the duration of their assignment at a user undertaking, at least those that would apply if they had been recruited directly by that undertaking to occupy the same job."

The Directive defines "basic working and employment conditions" as relating to "the duration of working time, overtime, breaks, rest periods, night work, holidays and public holidays" and "pay".

The UK implemented the Directive by way of its Agency Workers Regulations in October 2010. Those Regulations provide that to be entitled to equal treatment the agency worker must first complete 12 continuous weeks with the end user in the same role.

The Directive also provides for enhanced access to employment, collective facilities and vocational training for agency workers. Additionally, it provides that agency workers must be included in calculating the number of employees in both the employment agency and in the end user in establishing information and consultation forums in the workplace.

While agency workers are protected by Irish employment legislation, the implementation of this Directive will significantly enhance their position. It will likely also increase costs associated with agency workers for end users and make assignment of agency workers to less desirable activities less straightforward.

The implementation date for the Directive is 5 December 2011. Of relevance to this area also is the Employment Agency Regulation Bill 2009 which will overhaul the licensing of Employment Agencies. Further updates will follow the progress of these important changes to the HR landscape.

Reference:

1. Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on temporary agency work

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