2 year rule for Temporary Workers causing me to lose my job! 20 July 2020 at 8:30AM in Redundancy & redundancy planning 13 replies 523 views

mandyquack

I'm a temporary worker hired on a PAYE basis through a well-known employment agency. My contact at the same client has been running for just under 2 years and to my surprise I recently found out that the company will not extend my contract again because they are concerned about a UK law which entitles me to claim a permanent position and all the workers rights, etc. that goes with that, if I stay at the company for longer than 2 years.  The great irony is that I'm happy to stay in a contractual role, and in fact I've been looking for an alternative temporary position within the same organisation. I'm now wondering if there is any point in me doing this, does the 2 year rule apply regardless of whether I move roles as I would be staying in the company? Has anyone come across this before and have any advice? 

getmore4less

They have to be careful, even with not continuous employment with breaks longer than a week they can get caught.

jackieblack

Why would you want to continue working for a company that doesn’t want it’s workers to have their legal employment rights? 🤷🏻‍♀️

mandyquack

Maybe I'm a bit strange but I really like working as a contractor. I enjoy the flexibility and the take home pay is considerably more than I would get as an employee. The company aren't going to offer me a permanent role as a result of this rule, all it means is that I'm going to end up unemployed. 

sharpe106

If you move roles then the length of serivce carries on.

Comms69

Id be concerned the employer doesnt understand the relevant law at all. Nothing to do with 2 years, if you are not an employee...

sharpe106

After 2 years they get the same redundancy rights as normal employees, so will cost them to terminate the contract in the next year.  After 4 years they are pretty much an employee.

MinuteNoodles

mandyquack said:

I'm a temporary worker hired on a PAYE basis through a well-known employment agency. My contact at the same client has been running for just under 2 years and to my surprise I recently found out that the company will not extend my contract again because they are concerned about a UK law which entitles me to claim a permanent position and all the workers rights, etc. that goes with that, if I stay at the company for longer than 2 years.  

No such law exists. Where I'm at I've been there on agency 6 years.
The only law that exists is the right to parity pay as part of the Agency Workers Regulations which is 12 weeks at a place, not 2 years. 

MinuteNoodles

sharpe106 said:

After 2 years they get the same redundancy rights as normal employees, so will cost them to terminate the contract in the next year.  After 4 years they are pretty much an employee.

They're an employee of the agency, not the company they're doing the work at. Any redundancy issues are entirely to do with the agency, not the place they're contracted to work at. 
However with almost all agencies you'll find your employment contract only covers you for the time you're in work so if you have a week off where you're not using annual leave to cover it then that is a break in employment.

sharpe106

Missed the agency part.

Comms69

sharpe106 said:

After 2 years they get the same redundancy rights as normal employees, so will cost them to terminate the contract in the next year.  After 4 years they are pretty much an employee.

Not if it's a true contractor