Am I entitled to any redundancy pay?

Evil_Joe

I started working with a company through an employment agency on the 23rd of March 2007. Since then I have worked at the same company in the same department with the only change being that as of the 1st of April 2010 the employment agency I am employed by has changed. This was a compulsory requirement from the company I work for as they wished to align all agency staff to the one supplier, presumably to cut costs. The transition was under the rules of the TUPE policy whereby, as I understand it, I should not lose out on my rate of pay, holidays or other financial benefits I had accrued from the original agency. My contracts have been 3 month rolling contracts I believe. I am not 100% sure of this as the first agency didn’t often tell me about the length of it or if it had been extend. A couple of weeks ago we have been told that all agency contracts will no longer be extended with the company, so as of the 23rd of December I will be unemployed. I am currently 27 and will be at the time my contract expires. As the title says, am I entitled to any sort of redundancy pay? I assume not due to the fact I am employed by an agency but I feel very aggrieved that after, what will be, 4 years and 9 months of service I am just getting kicked out the door with nothing more than whatever holiday hours I have left, so I may as well ask.

Jarndyce

This makes my blood boil. It is very likely that agency contracts are being terminated at this time to avoid the new Agency Workers Regulations which now require agency staff to receive the same benefits as permanent ones, in a nutshell. They kick in 12 weeks from 1 October which will be about then.

To answer your question, you really need to see an employment lawyer. It may well be that you can argue that you are being sacked purely to get round the Regulations, which may enable you to seek recompense.

Evil_Joe

I have been well aware of the new agency laws however I fear my employer will cite the fact that they are going through a business reconstruction and as permanent staff's jobs are under threat they cannot justify keeping us when they will most likely be laying off permanent staff as well. To be honest I think there is some truth in both sides of it. I do believe that it is the case that they will be getting rid of permanent staff so can't keep us but at the same time I have no doubt that they are doing it now rather than in February due to the change in the law.

anamenottaken

Are you an employee of the agency? Some temp workers are.

Whether you were then entitled to redundancy pay may come down to whether they can find you alternative work and the terms of your contract about what is reasonable.

Evil_Joe

I believe I am an employee of the agency. If it is the case, how soon after the 23rd of December should I realistically expect them to find me suitable work before I should be thinking about asking for redundancy pay?

getmore4less

Check your contract with the agency