Ms Annie Hoey:

On the topic of punishing students, it would be quite hard to find a student around the country who does not feel he or she has experienced at least some level of punishment. When I was working, I gave a bit of guff and mysteriously and suddenly found myself scheduled for one hour a week in the middle of a Wednesday for no apparent reason. I did not know why that had happened. One will find that when students up and down the country raise issues or even just ask for flexibility during exam week, they have problems. That is not to paint all employers with the same brush, which would not be accurate. However, when this flexibility is allowed, it is quite easy to find students who are very vulnerable and who absolutely need these hours in order to avoid having to drop out of college and who feel they are suddenly being punished when their hours are mysteriously cut with no explanation. Students up and down the country have talked to us about how their hours were cut to an hour a week where they simply asked a question or challenged the status quo. They then did not know if the hours were going to go back up the following week and as such could not go to look for additional work elsewhere to top up their hours.

It is not just students. People who are vulnerable in the retail and hospitality sectors can find these things happening very easily. The people who do this give good and decent employers a really bad name. Other employers should probably stand up to them and point out that they are being given a bad name and that they do not treat their staff that way. They should point out that this behaviour reflects badly on those of them who are good employers. If employers are saying that zero-hour contracts do not exist, I do not see why there is a problem welcoming the Bill to prevent them. I do not mean that in a cheeky way. I mean it in a genuine way. If they do not exist, they should welcome a Bill that will provide a guarantee to their employees of a minimum time to work. Deputy Smith also asked about self-employment contracts. Does Mr. Waugh want to come in on that?