The Agency Workers Regulations

The Agency Workers Regulations (the Regulations) were published by the Government on 21 January 2010. The intention is that they will come into force on 1 October 2011. The Regulations provide all agency workers with the right to equal treatment with their directly recruited colleagues after 12 weeks in a given job. This edition of Employment Highlights considers the impact of the Regulations on employers who employ agency workers and what they should be doing to prepare for the introduction of the Regulations.

Introduction

The Regulations implement the EU Directive 2008/104/EC dated 19 November 2008 which provides a general framework for the protection of temporary agency workers (the Directive). Member States have until 5 December 2011 to implement the Directive. The Government conducted consultation on the draft Regulations between 15 October and 11 December 2009. The aim of the Directive is to ensure protection by applying the principle of equal treatment