What rights do I have on a temporary contract

sammyjammy

My suggestion would be to say nothing until May and then write a formal letter to HR/your employer stating the law on temp workers and equal pay and the four year rule.

anamenottaken

Are you sure that all the other people doing the same job as you are paid the same as each other? There is no law that says everyone has to be paid the same. Have any of them started since did?

Have all your fixed term contracts followed without a gap of even a week? When you get a new contract (do you get a new piece of paper each time), does it confirm your start date of employment as May 2010?

Prothet_of_Doom

misssarahleigh wrote: »

I will have been directly employed by my company 4 years in May.

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In which case it's NOT a temporary contract because you have gone over 2 years.

My understanding is that : If they terminated your "temporary contract" they'd have to make you redundant and be seen to do it in a fair and equitable manner.

I could be wrong, but join a union or check your house insurance for free legal advise.

patman99

Op, I believe you might have been thinking of the 'Agency Worker Regulations 2011'. These state that after a period of 12 weeks in the same position with the same placement, you will attain the same rights for pay & bonuses.
As you are directly employed, then these regulations have no effect on you.
You might want to remind them that as you have been employed for over 2 years without a break inbetween employment periods, you are now entitled to the same redundancy as a permanent employee & that you now have the same employment rights as a permanent staff member.

I also believe that it may still be the case that for the purposes of employment & redundancy, any break in employment with the same company (regardless of role) of less then 12 weeks would be considered as a continuation (which is why a lot of Local Authorities have a redundancy clause preventing re-employment within the same sector for a period of not less than 6 months.

misssarahleigh

anamenottaken wrote: »

Are you sure that all the other people doing the same job as you are paid the same as each other? There is no law that says everyone has to be paid the same. Have any of them started since did?

Have all your fixed term contracts followed without a gap of even a week? When you get a new contract (do you get a new piece of paper each time), does it confirm your start date of employment as May 2010?

Yes. When I was taken off the agency my manager went to the higher up with sums basically saying, we pay her x which makes it cheaper to employ her like that, rather than through the agency which take a cut (I got a 20% pay rise due to this as the agency took £12 an hour for me but I got paid £6.75)

I know my wage is lower than the other staff for certain, as my wage was calculated for the above reason and through conversations it's clear.

I'm also very certain that everyone in my department gets an attendance allowance of £1000 a year which I AM NOT entitled to.

I can double check what my first letter date was, but depending on the excuse the letters are normally for 3/6 months at a time, with an accasional 1/2 months depending on the specific reason for not taking me on e.g. is the contract I'm on going to be renewed.

patman99 wrote: »

Op, I believe you might have been thinking of the 'Agency Worker Regulations 2011'. These state that after a period of 12 weeks in the same position with the same placement, you will attain the same rights for pay & bonuses.
As you are directly employed, then these regulations have no effect on you.
You might want to remind them that as you have been employed for over 2 years without a break inbetween employment periods, you are now entitled to the same redundancy as a permanent employee & that you now have the same employment rights as a permanent staff member.

I also believe that it may still be the case that for the purposes of employment & redundancy, any break in employment with the same company (regardless of role) of less then 12 weeks would be considered as a continuation (which is why a lot of Local Authorities have a redundancy clause preventing re-employment within the same sector for a period of not less than 6 months.

Yes, I knew about this legislation which was my reason for asking. I knew I was 'barred' so to speak as it didn't cover my circumstances and wanted to know if something within the law did.



I may have the opportunity to say something about this. There are going to be a lot of changes and as a result I'm going to be 1 of 3 doing the same job (identical in job functions). I may be quite bold and state that if I'm one of three, and the job role is clearly there for me I expect the same pay and wee what they have to say. Just have to wait to be formally told about all these changes as I have an idea they are going ahead, just not sure when.

misssarahleigh

I just gave ACAS a call to see what they had to say. He informed me that the Government site saying I had the same rights of pay/conditions etc was untrue, and that so long as it's not on grounds of race/gender/religion they can pay me what they want.

I might make a second call as I don't think thats accurate.

Aquamania

misssarahleigh wrote: »

Thats the badger! The isn't any type of union, hence my popping on here for a little advice.

Which trade are you in that doesn't have a trade union? :huh:

Apart from a very few restricted professions such as the armed forces, there is a trade union willing to represent the rights for almost every employee.

hawk30

misssarahleigh wrote: »

I just gave ACAS a call to see what they had to say. He informed me that the Government site saying I had the same rights of pay/conditions etc was untrue, and that so long as it's not on grounds of race/gender/religion they can pay me what they want.

I might make a second call as I don't think thats accurate.

I would ring back and quote the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 at them.

misssarahleigh

I called them back, a bit better but not very helpful lol

I think I shall bide my time on this one. The changes should be coming soon, so once thats underway I'm going to ask why I've been on less favorable terms.

anamenottaken

patman99 wrote: »

. . .
You might want to remind them that as you have been employed for over 2 years without a break inbetween employment periods, you are now entitled to the same redundancy as a permanent employee & that you now have the same employment rights as a permanent staff member.

I also believe that it may still be the case that for the purposes of employment & redundancy, any break in employment with the same company (regardless of role) of less then 12 weeks would be considered as a continuation (which is why a lot of Local Authorities have a redundancy clause preventing re-employment within the same sector for a period of not less than 6 months.

The OP does need to check that there has been no break in the employment. If a new written document is issued each time, it should state when continuous employment began. A break in continuous employment would be created if there was a gap which included at least two Saturdays.