The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today [Friday 16th December 2011] published the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011. The Bill is intended to give effect to an EU Directive (Directive 2008/104/EC) on temporary agency work which requires that agency workers be treated equally, in certain respects, to people directly recruited to the same job.
The Minister has previously announced the main provisions of the Bill:
· All temporary agency workers are entitled to equal treatment in terms of pay and basic working conditions as if they were directly recruited by the hirer to the same job
· Basic working conditions will include working time, rest periods, rest breaks, night work, annual leave, public holidays, access to collective facilities
· Pay is defined as including only basic pay, shift premium, piece rates, overtime premium, unsocial hours premium and Sunday premium where a Sunday is worked and a premium is normally paid to a directly recruited employee
· Pay therefore will not include matters such as occupational pension schemes, financial participation schemes, sick pay schemes, benefit in kind or bonus payments
· The Bill, when enacted, will have retrospective effect to the transposition date of 5th December 2011.
The Minister’s intention is to have the Bill enacted as early as possible in the new Dail term.
Publishing the Bill the Minister said:
"This Bill represents an important step for agency workers by guaranteeing equal treatment, in terms of pay and basic working conditions, with directly recruited workers. However in these very challenging economic times, it is also designed to minimise the impact on competitiveness in the economy and to keep costs on employment to a minimum".
To access the bill please click the following: Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Bill 2011 (PDF, 428KB)