Major Development on the Temporary Agency Workers EU Directive – Jun '08

A draft of the Temporary Agency Workers Directive was agreed by the Member State Ministers at the EU Employment and Social Affairs Council on 10th June 2008. The main points of the Directive are:

• Equal treatment, as of day one, for temporary agency workers, as well as regular workers, in terms of pay, maternity leave and leave;
• The possibility to derogate from this among Member States through collective agreements and social partnership at national level;
• Temporary agency workers to be informed about permanent employment opportunities in the user enterprise;
• Equal access to collective facilities (e.g. canteen, childcare facilities, transport service);
• Member States to improve agency workers access to training and childcare facilities in the period between their assignments so as to increase their employability;
• Member States to ensure there will be penalties for non-compliance by temporary agencies and enterprises.

Should the Directive be ratified in this format, the most significant development for employers in Ireland will be the fact that a worker placed in a company by an employment agency on a temporary basis will have to be given the same pay and conditions of employment as if the worker had been recruited by the user company.

Ms Mary Coughlan, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, welcomed the package and commented that while agency working will continue to be a legitimate and important form of flexible labour market supply, it cannot be used to indefinitely circumvent an employer’s obligations to employees with regard to pay and other basic entitlements. She further stated that this Directive represents a key measure at EU level to ensure that there will be no “race to the bottom” in terms of employment standards.

The Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr Billy Kelleher, Ireland’s representative on the Council, explained that a key breakthrough from Ireland’s perspective is that the draft Directive provides for an empowerment of the social partners to agree their own arrangements to phase in parity in pay and entitlements.

The next step in the process is for the draft Directive to be considered and ultimately signed off by the European Parliament. After being signed off by Parliament, the Directive must be transposed into domestic legislation within two years by Member States.