Employers should begin preparing for implementation of the agency workers directive, according to Guy Lamb, head of employment at DLA Piper.

Lamb warns that, under the legislation, as well as the right to annual leave and bonus schemes, agency staff will also have the right to take up to 26 weeks maternity leave without breaking their 12 weeks ’continuous service’ record. Lamb adds that employers that flout with the rules or who move staff around in very different roles every 11 weeks to avoid triggering their employees’ continuous service rights could face tribunal claims and fines.

Lamb explains: “Although the new rules don’t come into force until October 2011, employers will need to think about how they will budget for these new requirements now, and how they are going to place agency staff within their business in the future, to ensure they can still maintain a flexible workforce without breaking the rules.

“Obviously it is important that employees receive fair treatment within the workplace, whatever their employment status. However, the cost implications of these new rights could be quite significant for manufacturers in our region, in particular. Employers often rely on the flexibility offered by agency staff. They will be keeping a very close eye on their costs as we move out of recession and into recovery.”

But Ann Swain, chief executive of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), says recruiters could be left footing the bill for such costs.

“End users will be able to push the cost of complying onto recruiters by getting recruiters to indemnify them in respect of any claims made in connection with the Regulations. This will leave ‘vulnerable’ workers no better off and heap further costs on recruiters.
 
“The Regulations will give temporary workers who are pregnant or new mothers more rights than equivalent permanent employees. This will impose significant costs on staffing companies.”