Stourbridge labour agency loses GLA licence after passing off Romanian workers as Hungarians
24 September 2013
A West Midlands labour agency that illegally employed Romanian workers then supplied them to a farm in the Cotswolds by passing them off as Hungarians has lost its gangmaster’s licence.
Tue, 24 Sep 2013A West Midlands labour agency that illegally employed Romanian workers then supplied them to a farm in the Cotswolds by passing them off as Hungarians has lost its gangmaster’s licence.
The company, Foxwell, of High Street, Lye, near Stourbridge, was found to have breached no less than 11 different licensing standards in supplying workers to a vegetable farm in Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire. Foxwell originally lodged an appeal against the GLA’s decision made in March, but this has now been withdrawn.
GLA chief executive officer Paul Broadbent says that Foxwell originally avoided “searching questions” about the legality of the workers by claiming they were Hungarian and therefore did not require work permits.
Subsequently the company did admit to the GLA they were Romanian, says Broadbent, but “maintained they were self-employed, which if true would have exempted them from requiring a work permit”.
However, Broadbent continues: “It soon became clear that these workers were controlled and supervised at the labour user site just like any other employee.” They were also not allowed to provide a substitute person to perform their role – another known test for self-employment.
“In fact, the managing director of Foxwell, Mohammed Azeem, was unable to explain how he would carry out an assessment to establish if a worker were self-employed.”
Among the other issues uncovered by GLA inspectors were inadequate records of hours worked for calculating wages, not allowing a worker paid leave to attend ante-natal appointments, having no record of complaints, nor any complaint handling procedure, and failure to provide adequate toilet and first aid facilities for field workers.
The GLA inspection report concluded that Foxwell’s non-compliance with 11 GLA licensing standards was persistent and systematic.
This case comes just a few months before temporary restrictions on Romanians working in the UK, introduced when Romania, along with Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, are due to be dropped. From January, employers will no longer require a work permit to employ Romanian workers, who will gain the same rights to work in the UK as other EU citizens.
The company, Foxwell, of High Street, Lye, near Stourbridge, was found to have breached no less than 11 different licensing standards in supplying workers to a vegetable farm in Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire. Foxwell originally lodged an appeal against the GLA’s decision made in March, but this has now been withdrawn.
GLA chief executive officer Paul Broadbent says that Foxwell originally avoided “searching questions” about the legality of the workers by claiming they were Hungarian and therefore did not require work permits.
Subsequently the company did admit to the GLA they were Romanian, says Broadbent, but “maintained they were self-employed, which if true would have exempted them from requiring a work permit”.
However, Broadbent continues: “It soon became clear that these workers were controlled and supervised at the labour user site just like any other employee.” They were also not allowed to provide a substitute person to perform their role – another known test for self-employment.
“In fact, the managing director of Foxwell, Mohammed Azeem, was unable to explain how he would carry out an assessment to establish if a worker were self-employed.”
Among the other issues uncovered by GLA inspectors were inadequate records of hours worked for calculating wages, not allowing a worker paid leave to attend ante-natal appointments, having no record of complaints, nor any complaint handling procedure, and failure to provide adequate toilet and first aid facilities for field workers.
The GLA inspection report concluded that Foxwell’s non-compliance with 11 GLA licensing standards was persistent and systematic.
This case comes just a few months before temporary restrictions on Romanians working in the UK, introduced when Romania, along with Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, are due to be dropped. From January, employers will no longer require a work permit to employ Romanian workers, who will gain the same rights to work in the UK as other EU citizens.
