AWR - What does it really mean ?.

patman99

As of 1st Jan. 2012, any agency worker who has been at their current assignment since 1st Oct. 2011 will be affected by the AWR.
I have a few questions that need clarifying due to my agency trying to be as unclear about our entitlements as they can.

1) Will I be entitled to the same o/t rate as my directly employed colleagues?.

2) The D/E's get 26 days annual leave + B/H's. My Agency contract states my annual leave is 27 days all-in with B/H's only paid if booked in advance. Will I now be entitled to the same annual leave and paid B/H's as the D/E's?.

3) The D/E's get paid for medical appointments. Will I be entitled to be paid these as well ?.

LadyMissA

Following the 12 week qualifying period the temporary workers will be entitled to equal treatment, including; pay, working hours, overtime, breaks, holidays and access to training and collective facilities. Equal treatment does not apply to sick pay or paternity/maternity leave.

http://www.understandingawr.co.uk/

paddedjohn

patman99 wrote: »

As of 1st Jan. 2012, any agency worker who has been at their current assignment since 1st Oct. 2011 will be affected by the AWR.
I have a few questions that need clarifying due to my agency trying to be as unclear about our entitlements as they can.

1) Will I be entitled to the same o/t rate as my directly employed colleagues?.

2) The D/E's get 26 days annual leave + B/H's. My Agency contract states my annual leave is 27 days all-in with B/H's only paid if booked in advance. Will I now be entitled to the same annual leave and paid B/H's as the D/E's?.

3) The D/E's get paid for medical appointments. Will I be entitled to be paid these as well ?.

If you are full time this should be 28 days as a minimum.;)
Anything else you need to know is in the post above.

fedster

LadyMissA wrote: »

Following the 12 week qualifying period the temporary workers will be entitled to equal treatment, including; pay, working hours, overtime, breaks, holidays and access to training and collective facilities. Equal treatment does not apply to sick pay or paternity/maternity leave.

http://www.understandingawr.co.uk/

Thats what should happen but in the place i work the Agency guys have been told nothing about what is going to happen next week if anything, agency workers are still getting laid of, with new ones being brought in the following day,the rumour going round is that quite a few will be laid of next week, that includes longterm agency workers.

patman99

I thought that would happen. When the 12 weeks is up, the extra costs the agency incurrs will be placed onto the hirer with increased fees. Hence they tell the hirer it is cheaper to lay-off any staff coming up to the 12 weeks and bring in fresh people, then keep repeating the cycle, but send-back the ones laid-off the first time and so on.

All Agency staff need to sign the e-petition that is on the official Govt. epetition site (not put on there by me btw). This needs to be brought to discussion in Parliament.

SarEl

And I recall saying some months ago (and several people telling me it was rubbish!) that all this would mean is that agency staff would never survive 12 weeks in any employment.

Actually what I am also seeing is an increase in the number of in-house staff banks, which have grown like topsy in the last three months. They aren't covered by the regulations.

LadyMissA

Can I ask a question without someone jumping on my back? If I was to say get a temp job and it was ongoing and then I was still there after week 12 are we saying if the company want to keep you on the agency will have to pay you the same salary as the permenant staff working there?

LittleVoice

LadyMissA wrote: »

Can I ask a question without someone jumping on my back? If I was to say get a temp job and it was ongoing and then I was still there after week 12 are we saying if the company want to keep you on the agency will have to pay you the same salary as the permenant staff working there?

Yes - as long as there was a properly comparable role of a directly employed worker.

ladylouise62

I'm still not clear about holiday pay. Say that as a temp I 'earn' 25 days of paid holiday a year, but the people I work with have 25 days holiday AND bank holidays (which adds a further 8? days). Would the temp now be getting bank holidays as well. i.e be earning 33 paid days?

LadyMissA

LittleVoice wrote: »

Yes - as long as there was a properly comparable role of a directly employed worker.

But what if working in a team of people all doing the same job and they are all on different salaries? How would that work and then the company would have to disclose all salaries to the agency, no?

patman99

When you consider that in most American-owned companies, it is common practice to pay each person a different rate of pay for doing the same job then this could well open-up a massive can of worms.

My agency changed from 20 days leave + B/H's to 27 days all-in. I will lose 6 days from my annual leave entitlement to be able to have Christmas week off, whilst my directly employed colleagues only use 3 days for the same period.

I intend to wait until the New Year, then ask my agency if they intend to match the hirer's 26 days a/l + paid B/H's. If they refuse, then I will get together with my fellow agency colleagues and start proceedings against them.

Btw SarEl, glad I'm not the only one voicing my concerns over this.