The employment of agency workers has become a “lottery” because no one is sure who the employer is, an employment law specialist has told Recruiter.

Stephen Levinson, a partner at London firm Manches, says that there are “high levels of anxiety” over the employment of agency staff following a landmark ruling by an employment tribunal.

The tribunal ruled that Sheila Ncube, of Nottingham, who worked as an agency nurse for 24/7 Healthcare Agency, should have been considered a full-time employee, giving her rights of unfair dismissal, redundancy, maternity and holiday pay.

The case came to tribunal when 24/7 became insolvent and was taken over by another agency, Derby-based Trust Healthcare, which refused Ncube holiday pay in lieu of annual leave.

Trust Healthcare told her she was not entitled to annual leave pay as she was a temporary worker, not an employee, and when companies become insolvent they are not liable for temporary workers.

“I think, across the whole sector, there is a higher level of anxiety about employing agency workers because nobody knows who is responsible for them,” adds Levinson.

Kevin McNerney, senior legal officer at the Royal College of Nursing, which advised Ncube to take her case to tribunal, says: “We are very pleased with the ruling; this will be a major breakthrough for agency nurses, who are not always recognised by agencies as employees, leaving them in a vulnerable position.”

A spokesman for Trust Healthcare could not say whether they planned to appeal. Kevin Barrow, partner at law firm Tarlo Lyons, said the ruling was likely to lead to nurses taking Trusts to Tribunals. This could discourage Trusts from using agencies.