Will the new rules stifle the temporary labour market?
Friday, 12, Feb 2010 12:00Contract and temporary workers make a vital contribution to the UK economy. They help to fill short-term staffing gaps and provide companies with more flexibility during lean times. Many employers opted for temporary contractors over permanent staff as a way to manage costs during the recession as well as peaks in business. According to the Guardian, there are two million agency workers in the country. They represent a significant portion of the labour force and the government feels that it is time to give them the same rights as their directly-recruited colleagues. New agency worker regulations The EU Agency Workers Directive has been adapted for the UK and is due to be implemented next October. The new regulations provide all agency workers who have been in their jobs for 12 weeks or more with rights to the same salary, holiday and break entitlements, and overtime or commission payments as would apply if they had been recruited directly by the company to occ
