contract of employment ended prematurely...

[Jase1982]

Hi,

 

I have been working for a fairly large Employment agency at a placement in Southampton since the end of July. I had initially been on a temporary 6 week contract, which after 4 weeks changed to a 2 month contract working in a higher paid position.

 

Both these positions became available because I am friendly with the manager involved, who had also been giving me a lift in to work in the mornings.

 

However, at half past 8 this morning I received a text along the lines of "You don't need to come in this morning. I will call you later"

 

I waited, he phoned me and stated that they had had a management meeting and reached an agreement to rethink their recruitment policy, based around the problems they had encountered when attempting to train me (There was very stagnant training involved and most the time the training was non existant so naturally mistakes were made by me, which I was not blamed for and these ocurrances were, 'not my fault')

 

My question is, what, if any, notice period should they give?

 

Considering the company concerned intimated that the lenght of the contract would last a minimum of 2 months. In my contract it says that no notice period is required....What does the law say for temporary workers?

 

Surely it can't be completely legal to end my contract this morning with no prior warning after I had been expecting another 2 months pay?

 

Thanks in advance.

[elche]

Firstly it will be crucial to establish your employment status are you / were you a 'worker', 'employee' or self-employed.

 

This can be difficult to work out and each case will be viewed on it's own specific facts.

 

Assuming however that you are an employee then under one month stat notice is nil and over one month until one year is one week. Your contract may well specify a longer 'contractual notice period' and you should check this. Even if your contract has no notice period specified, there is a implication that you should have been given 'reasonable notice', obvioulsy subject to your statutory minimum.

 

If you had a fixed term contract of 2 months then you need to check if the contract had a provision whereby the employer could terminate the contract earlier then the specified 2 month period. If such a provision was not a term of the contract then you may be entitled to damages which reflect the unpaid portion of the contract.

 

You may well find that the agency is using a specific type of contract that renders you an 'agency worker' with very little rights as you are no-one's employee! see for example the recent Court of Appeal decision in James v London Borough of Greenwich James v London Borough of Greenwich [2008] EWCA Civ 35 (05 February 2008)

Edited September 13, 2008 by elche

[Jase1982]

Cheers for that.

 

I would have been classed as a worker, although, it is my belief that I wsa technically an employee. My reasoning behind this would be that everything my ex-employer did indicated I was considered a permenant member of the team, and it appears they have let me go on a whim after changing their minds.

 

My contract was never changed to reflect the new higher paid position. It says in the initial contract that it can be terminated with no notice period required. I don't see how this contract can be used to cover the higher paid position as the details are incorrect and I even had my security pass changed to that of a permenant employee.

 

I basically don't like the idea that I've been let go by text at half past 8 when I expected to work the same day.

 

Is there anything I can use as leverage to obtain at least a weeks pay in lieu?

 

Please let me know if any further information is required.

 

Thanks.

[elche]

although, it is my belief that I wsa technically an employee. My reasoning behind this would be that everything my ex-employer did indicated I was considered a permenant member of the team, and it appears they have let me go on a whim after changing their minds.

 

Thus this would be your argument. You submit a grievance claiming an unlawful deduction from wages i.e. unpaid notice pay claiming that you consider yourself to have been an employee of the agency (not an 'agency worker' or employee of the end user) with over 4 weeks continuity of service, and thus a stat entitlement to 1 weeks PILON.

 

They may consider it easier to pay than to expend time and effort defending it.

 

I do however think it is highly speculative, and that they may well ignore you, but I don't really see much else you could do.

 

Perhaps other members may have other ideas, as there is always more than one way to crack a nut, but these are my thoughts.

Edited September 13, 2008 by elche

[Jase1982]

Thanks very much for the advice.

 

Has anyone else any thoughts?

[djgordyp]

.

 

You may well find that the agency is using a specific type of contract that renders you an 'agency worker' with very little rights as you are no-one's employee! see for example the recent Court of Appeal decision in James v London Borough of Greenwich James v London Borough of Greenwich [2008] EWCA Civ 35 (05 February 2008)

 

Hi elche. Please correct me if I'm wrong here, I just don't remember the exact details. I seem to remember something been mentioned recently (on the news I think) that agency workers were to be given the same or similar right as other employees. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.

 

Hi again, just found this Equal rights for agency workers looks like it's not law yet. While browsing through the site I came upon a story about a factory where some of the workers had been temporary agency workers for 15 years. This only came to light when the factory closed. The permanent staff got their redundancy while the agency workers got nothing

 

Found the story I was looking for BBC NEWS | Business | Agency staff to get equal rights

Edited September 14, 2008 by djgordyp

[elche]

looks like it's not law yet.

 

I can understand the confusion as this issue has been receiving a lot of press attention recently and with gov't TUC agreements, private members bills and the proposed Agency Workers Directive the whole landscape in this area is muddled. As far as I am aware at the time of writing, the Directive is not law.

 

The following may help explain this is more detail -

 

Agency workers could gain equal rights to permanent staff at an even earlier stage than the 12-week watershed agreed last week, a senior official has warned.

The government reached an agreement with the CBI and the TUC last week which would see temporary and agency workers given equal treatment after 12 weeks in a job.

 

But the agreement has to be rubber stamped by European employment ministers next month, before being subject to further scrutiny by the European Parliament in the autumn. The European Parliament will then decide whether to give the UK government the go ahead to implement the deal into UK law as part of the Agency Workers Directive.

 

See Agency worker rights could kick in even earlier warns expert

 

NOTE to OP - You could of course try your claim on with the end user i.e. the place you actually worked also claiming that you were their employee not the agencies - your claim I suppose is that, 'I must be someone's employee?'

 

However, as I said above, currently case law is not with you on this point and this in part is the reason for the proposed new rights for agency workers who can find themselves in the perverse position of working but being no-one's employee!

[Jase1982]

Thanks for the further advice guys. Very helpful.

 

One more thing, as the only written signed contract I have is for the initial lower paid administrative position, would it be a fair to assume that this contract would or should be declared null and void?

 

I may be clutching at straws, but I'm expecting the agency to refer to the contract they provided me with. Anything I can use in my argument is better than nothing...

[Jase1982]

113 views and only 2 people have responded??

 

Is that 113 different people?

 

In addition to my post, I just had a call from the employment agency and they hadn't even spoken to my friend who fired me by text, so they weren't even aware. It gets better....

[becka]

Maybe only 2 people have any definitive knowledge of this and the other 111 people don't want to comment/give advice in case they are wrong

 

Personally I think (and I may be wrong) that you were an agency worker and as such were not entitled to any notice. Just as if you had not liked the job you wouldn't need to give any notice

[Jase1982]

Everyone should have an opinnion as there is no definitive yes or no answer on this.

 

Yes you are correct, had I wished to end my contract earlier, I would be arguing the complete opposite to my current argument. However, I don't believe it is relevant here because what you are suggesting is a different situation. In that event I would be arguing with the agency that I don't need to give any notice, and they, or the client, would be arguing that I need to complete a handover.

 

My whole argument is that I was considered a permanant employee until the client decided to end my contract. By permanent, my reasoning would be that I had my pass upgraded to the same as a permanent member of staff, I was allowed the same privelages as permanent members of staff. I was included on team meetings etc.

[becka]

but who paid your wages? Was it the company you were doing the work for or the agency that hired you? Were you monthly or weekly paid? I've worked as a temp a lot and never thought that cos I was included in team meetings/ had the same security pass as others that I was a permanent member of staff

 

I worked for one company for 3 years as a temp before a contract was signed making me a permanent employee. No matter how much I felt like part of the fixtures and fittings (and had been there longer than some of the permanent staff) at the end of the day I was a temporary employee who got paid weekly and at any point could have been given one weeks notice

[Jase1982]

at the end of the day I was a temporary employee who got paid weekly and at any point could have been given one weeks notice

 

So, you were still entitled to one weeks notice?

 

They gave me no notice after agreeing that I would be there at least 2 months and a permanent job will follow, subject to performance. No performance issues were raised with me, so the only conclusion I can come to is that they have changed their minds....breaking the contract they have (or didn't have with me. That is the point I am trying to get to) in the process.

 

I am of the opinnion that the actions of a individual or organisation are equal to that of a contract, especially in my case, where I had no written, signed contract to cover the improved position.

 

I may, as I think Elche suggested, be an employee to no one....

 

I'd still like to fight this if I can. Don't think the law is completely on my side, yet...that I think will change in the years to come.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Jase1982
miss spelled the name...

[Jase1982]

but who paid your wages? Was it the company you were doing the work for or the agency that hired you? Were you monthly or weekly paid?

 

 

Also, the agency paid my wages. I don't know how significant that is to my argument at this stage. It was weekly, but that doesn't prove I was a worker as many companies pay weekly and those members of staff are considered employees.

[SickofA&L]

Hi Jase,

Unfortunately I have to say welcome to the big bad world of agency employment. As it stands there is absolutely nothing you can do, as an agency worker you can be released by a company whenever they feel you are no longer needed (technically you're employer is the agency, not the company you were working for). The way they told you was really $h1*ty but it's perfectly legal.

[Jase1982]

Hi Jase,

Unfortunately I have to say welcome to the big bad world of agency employment. As it stands there is absolutely nothing you can do, as an agency worker you can be released by a company whenever they feel you are no longer needed (technically you're employer is the agency, not the company you were working for). The way they told you was really $h1*ty but it's perfectly legal.

 

hmmmmm, ok I completely agree. Agency workers have little concrete rights, which is why they are agency staff.

 

However, my main argument, or point (not sure which it is) is that I didn't see myself as a temporary worker in the strictest sense. That is why I am unhappy. If I was an agency worker performing a menial task on an open ended contract, then I would not complain.

 

It's all very open for debate.

[SickofA&L]

Unfortunately the way you see yourself within the company doesn't reflect your true standing so as I said earlier they can release you whenever.

You just need to put this down to experience I'm afraid and move on no matter how infuriating it is.

Good luck finding another job