A guidance document relating to new legislation on temporary agency workers has been published to assist employment agencies and hirers of agency workers to understand their obligations and responsibilities regarding agency workers and to assist agency workers to understand their entitlements under the new legislation.

The new legislation provides that agency workers should be treated the same as an employee of the hirer in terms of basic working and employment conditions. It also provides for equal treatment of agency workers regarding “collective facilities and amenities”, unless there is an objective reason to justify less favourable treatment, and that agency workers should be informed of any vacant position of employment where such information would be given to the hirer’s employees.

The guidance document clarifies a number of issues concerning the new legislation including that:

• The legislation does not apply to independent contractors, placement services or managed service contracts.
• The legislation requires enhanced communication between employment agencies and hirers. For example, the hirer should provide the employment agency with up-to-date information on terms and conditions of employment including the rate of pay, annual leave entitlements and/or other payment arrangements/allowances that an agency worker is entitled to.
• Established pay scales, collective agreements and terms and conditions of employment should be considered when deciding the rate of pay for an agency worker.
• An agency worker can be paid in excess of what he/she is entitled to.
• “Collective facilities and amenities” include toilet/shower facilities, staff common rooms, food and drinks machines and car parking. A non-exhaustive list has been set out.
• Economic reasons, such as the cost of collective facilities, should not be considered as an objective reason justifying a difference in treatment between agency workers and employees regarding access to collective facilities and amenities.
• The agency worker is entitled to be provided with information about job vacancies in the hirer’s workplace. However, there is no obligation on the employer to favour the agency worker when selecting a candidate for the vacancy.

Contributed by Alicia Compton and Ciara Ruane.

Back to Legal News