Company Bonus for contract workers

boris123333

Hi,

First post hopefully someone can help me.

I work for a large IT Firm I was hired through an agency and I have been working here for 7 months. I have an umbrella company to handle my payroll/tax etc...

At the end of last year (3 months into contract) I had an "unofficial" appraisal which seemed very positive. I was aware that the result of the appraisal for Full time workers was a bonus and salary increase.

I believed that as I was not a full time employee I would not be entitled to any such benefits. While on lunch today I was speaking to another contractor at the company (he comes from a different agency and does not use an umbrella company as his agency handles it all.) He has stated that he is getting the bonus under the AWR, there has been no mention to me of this bonus.

Basically am I entitled to this bonus? If so should I approach the agency I work with first or the company that I am contracted too?

I would appreciate any advise that any of you could offer.

agrinnall

My experience as a contractor pre-dates the latest changes relating to agency workers, but I never received a bonus and would never have expected to receive one.

Takeaway_Addict

surely the first approach is to do that thing of asking if you are entitled to it and to what reason you wouldn't be

InsideInsurance

You are an employee, of the umbrella company though not the client.

It sounds like you dont understand the full set up of your colleague who is claiming to have received a bonus so take that with a large pinch of salt.

If you were to get a bonus it would be your employers that pay it and so you'd need to speak to your umbrella company. Contractors typically dont get bonuses/ annual pay reviews etc but you can of cause negotiate bonuses into your contract and at every contract renewal you could chose to negotiate day/ hour rate

ValHaller

InsideInsurance wrote: »

It sounds like you dont understand the full set up of your colleague who is claiming to have received a bonus so take that with a large pinch of salt.

Yes, beware. If it is wrong information, you could make a fool of yourself or you could become disillusioned with the employer as the result of a falsehood. Some people like to set up colleagues for a bit of a fall in order to see off competition within the organisation.

sloucho

If your colleague is an agency worker as you are, and working in the same manner, then as AWR applied to them, then it is possible that it also applies to you.
The manner in which your agencies pay you is not important.
You should raise the issue with you agency, It would be beneficial to get the details of the colleagues bonus and your directly employed equivalents.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/BISCore/employment-matters/docs/A/11-949-agency-workers-regulations-guidance.pdf

celestesmummy

I have a great deal of experience with this, as I successfully challenged my Agency for my AWR rights earlier this year, receiving both a backdated pay increase and a bonus payment.

Basically, after you have qualified for your 12 week rights, your Agency has to ensure that you receive equal treatment to your comparable employee.

If the comparable employee receives a bonus which is part of their pay, i.e. not performance related, you are entitled to the same.

If the comparable employee receives an automatic pay increase, on a scale, every year on the anniversary of their employment, you are also entitled to receive this increase on the anniversary of your 12 week rights.

If the comparable employee receives a pay increase which is strictly performance related, you are not entitled to receive a pay increase in line with that.

If you are entitled to any of the above, it is your Agent's responsibility to pay you immediately, whether or not they have received the money from the hirer. This applies whether you are PAYE directly through an Agency or Ltd using an umbrella.

Hope this helps.