agency work?????

linzi88

Hi,
My partner work for an agency and has been for 12 weeks with out a day off. it is classed a temp work but as its got to his 13th week they called him and told him hes now on stand by. so basically he gets calls at 6am to tell him to go into work and we dread it every day. we wanted to know what benefits we would be entilteld to as we have a 6 year old child. and we not entiltled to housing benefits. so we are dreading it coming to the point were he only works 2 days and also have to pay full rent and full council tax. i dont think we can claim job seekers as we never know if hes doing to be working 16 hours under or over that week like i said we find out if hes working on the day. we are having threatning letter from council as we are struggeling to rent when this happen. any help?

cmw1212

So does he still work through the agency, this sounds a bit dodgy like the company or agency are trying to dodge the AWR rules.

Also as your partner has been working for 12 weeks wothout a day off he should have built up quite a lot of holiday pay, has he had this or asked about it?

linzi88

thanks for the reply. he has earned 6 holiday days yes but last week before they put him on stand by they advised him to use his holiday days for christmas period, so he has done at first we thought they maybe trying to dodge AWR rules but then again there is someone who has worked there the same amount of time but has not been put on stand by and this other person has been asked to do the job my partner was doing. yes he was working 12 weeks straight without been on stand by but a few things i have read stated that he must be doing the same job for the whole 12 weeks but he was asked to do different jobs in he whole 12 weeks he was before they put him on stand by. is there anything we can do money wise as im aware he cant just leave as he wont be able to sign on at jobcentre because of yet hes classed as been on standby and not told him theres no work hes still classed as working there

cmw1212

You might be better off posting this in the benefits forum.
I'm starting to understand why some people hate agencies so much I mean good of them to advise your partner to save his hols til christmas but whats to say he wouldn't have found another job by then, assuming he is looking.

LittleVoice

If he has been rotating round in jobs with this organisation he should keep a record of which job he has done and when. You are right that the 12 weeks have to be in the same role in order to claim parity with a directly employeed person but the time does not have to be continuous.

Though he has been told to keep the holiday to use at Christmas, he has accrued it already and therefore he could take holiday now and be paid but not be paid in this job at Christmas. The problem is that they could ask for two days notice of a day's holiday. I don't know whether it would work if he told the agency in advance that if he does not have work one day he wants to take it as holiday. If he does find he could take holiday at this short notice (the same short notice as he is being given of work), then he would not have pay at Christmas but I would imagine could sign on at the Jobcentre for that period. However you would need to check this.

V_Chic_Chick

If he hasn't had a day off in 12 weeks, then they are in breach of the law on rest breaks, which state that you must be given one day off every seven days, or two consecutive days off per fortnight

https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work

Whenever I've worked for agencies, I've just been able to say "no" to any work that I've been offered if it's inconvenient. Is this not an option for your husband?

paddedjohn

linzi88 wrote: »

thanks for the reply. he has earned 6 holiday days yes but last week before they put him on stand by they advised him to use his holiday days for christmas period, so he has done at first we thought they maybe trying to dodge AWR rules but then again there is someone who has worked there the same amount of time but has not been put on stand by and this other person has been asked to do the job my partner was doing. yes he was working 12 weeks straight without been on stand by but a few things i have read stated that he must be doing the same job for the whole 12 weeks but he was asked to do different jobs in he whole 12 weeks he was before they put him on stand by. is there anything we can do money wise as im aware he cant just leave as he wont be able to sign on at jobcentre because of yet hes classed as been on standby and not told him theres no work hes still classed as working there

If hes worked 12 weeks he has earned at least 7.24 days holiday.;)

James1968

The '12 weeks doing one job' thing brings-up an interesting conundrum. My role hasn't changed in the nearly 2 years that I have been on assignment as an agency worker for the same hirer. However, I have twice been moved to different departments (from QM->Goods in then back again). As my job title hasn't changed, can I assume the 12 week period doesn't reset ?.
Also, if the op's partner is employed as a 'Factory Operative' rather than say, 'Brakepress operator, then surely no matter what his task for each day, then the 12 week q/p would be as a general worker rather than each tasking starting/re-starting the 12 week q/p.

My hirer as a large number of agency staff working in production. Each staff member spends a day on each section on rotation. The Agency are happy that as the staff are classed as assemblers, the q/p is completed after 12 weeks regardless of how many different 'jobs' they have done for the hirer.

linzi88

i dont think they are in breach of the law though are they as this have moved him to different roles for a day or so then put him back to what he was doing. i saw that he could sign on if hes doing under 16 hours but thats not the case as we dont know when he will be over 16 hours and under 16 hours as they are littery calling on the day to tell him to go to work. its really hard as hes on a decent paid job even though its angency and its his wage that brings the money in if he looses out on 1 day we loose out on £60 which is alot with the amount of stuff we have to pay out. we are just at a stuck we are scared of calling the agency just incase it will stop the chance of him getting back on regular work if it picks back up again