Breakfast Seminar - AWR

There was a barrage of questions at the end of this morning’s Employment Law Briefing – always a good sign I think!

The topic was the Agency Workers Regulations with the presentation delivered by the incredibly knowledgeable Martin Bloom, employment law partner at Hegarty’s, our joint hosts of the briefing.

He covered the main points of the Regulations which sparked interesting discussions during the break and very pertinent questions at the end of the session.

The Regulations are aimed at bringing the terms of basic working and employment conditions for temporary agency workers in line with comparable permanent members of staff. But there are many caveats, inclusions and exclusions and very little in the way of definitive answers – many of which will only come when the regulations are tested at tribunal level.

Martin has studied the 49 page Government guidelines document at length and, using his experience as an employment tribunal judge, interpreted the regulations both legally – and morally – for delegates.

For instance: after 12 weeks in the same temporary role, working through an agency, a worker will be entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions.
However – from day one they are entitled to access collective facilities and amenities including things like canteens, child care facilities or transport services.

One delegate raised the question of gym membership – offered to all employees. Martin was clear that the Regulations state gym membership should, in that instance, be offered to temporary agency workers. However, the company could argue that the cost of doing that for workers who may only be in post for a matter of days or weeks is an ‘objective justification’ not to.

On the other hand, there was the delegate whose employees are always given a Christmas gift. Although this isn’t in their contract, because it has happened for a number of years it has become a recognised ‘benefit’. Therefore, Martin explained, temporary agency staff would also be entitled to a gift.

We have been working with our trade association and experts like Martin for around two years to ensure we are not only fully briefed and prepared to implement the Regulations but also in a position to discuss compliance with our clients. The process is continuing with us working closely with businesses, on site, to deliver free Impact Assessments – feel free to contact us to find out more about that service.

We’ll be uploading podcasts of Martin’s presentations and more information over the coming weeks so keep in touch.