Dr. Desmond Ryan:

I recommend that consideration be given to the 2015 regulations in the United Kingdom, which specifically address the abusive practice of precluding a zero-hours worker from working for anybody else. That is recognised as unduly constricting a worker's ability to generate income and take up work elsewhere and it has been dealt with specifically in that legislation. That is a more nuanced response to the concern about banning zero-hour contracts. It shows how legislation is capable of achieving that. Incidentally, English law specifically removes the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims. In that jurisdiction, the qualifying period is two years, which is longer than it is here, but it waives it where the person contends that they have been penalised for raising this concern about working on a zero-hours contract for another employer.