Employment Law Update (September 2009)
Agency workers' rights to be extended
The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has announced that legislation
will be pushed through as soon as possible to extend agency
workers' rights. It now seems clear that these new rights will
become law before the next general election, which must be held by
June 2010 at the latest.
The announcement was made in a speech to the TUC Congress in
Liverpool on 15th September.
What will the new rights be?
Although the proposals are still under consultation, Britain is
committed under European law to give agency workers parity of basic
terms and conditions, including pay, with equivalent permanent
workers after 12 weeks' in the same job. They will not,
however, achieve "employee" status.
For further information and advice, see our news feature from
August 2009:
New rights for Agency
workers