Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)

The protection this Bill will give to temporary agency workers to ensure they receive equal treatment in basic working and employment conditions is most welcome. It covers a range of conditions including pay, duration of working time, rest periods, rest breaks, night work, annual leave and public holidays. The Bill's provisions will affect 2% of the workforce, some 35,000 individuals, as well as their employers. Accordingly, it is imperative that it in no way hinders the effective running of businesses and in the current economic climate, no barriers to employment should be put in the way of business owners or operators.

However, this Bill contains no elements that place an unfair burden on employers. Essentially, agency work is no substitute for whole-time work in any business but it does provide a flexibility in solving a problem for a particular period. It is important those workers are fairly treated.

It is crucial this Bill, which stems from a 2008 European directive on temporary agency workers, must be implemented in a common sense manner. How is it intended to communicate these legislative changes, especially to small enterprises around the country? For example, small business owners may not be aware that a temporary agency worker replacing a full-time employee is now entitled to the same pay, duration and annual leave as a full-time employee. In fact, in many businesses ad hoc arrangements have built up over several years between employers and employees in cases where there are only one or two employees, in, for example, basic pay, shift premium, piece rates and the Sunday premium.

Such employers need to be made aware of the legislative changes, whether this be through workshops at a local level or through notifications issuing to small businesses. Equal access to canteen facilities, workplace crèches and transport services are other issues that must be made clear to employers in terms of treating workers equally.

Complaints, liability and redress in the context of these issues are other crucial provisions in this Bill. An agency worker may refer a dispute to an entitlement under the Act to a Rights Commissioner of the Labour Relations Commission for adjudication and a decision of the commissioner can be appealed to the Labour Court for a legally binding determination. The commissioner will then find that the complaint was not well founded, require the employer to take a specified course of action or require the employer to pay the employee compensation of an amount not exceeding two years remuneration. This compensation appears to be very much at the higher end of the scale and I believe that having the upper level of remuneration in such instances at one year would be more than sufficient.

The information exchange provision in section 14 puts further obligations on the hirer in terms of making the new temporary agency worker aware of the basic terms and conditions. The legislation could have the unintended effect of putting obstacles in the way of employers seeking to fill employment vacancies through agency workers and further incentivise black market activity. Proper communication of these new measures is, therefore, essential.

The issue of communication is also pertinent when it comes to the fact that the provisions of the Bill came into effect on 5 December, which may mean that employers are unwittingly breaking the law in the context of these new provisions. The failure of discussions last autumn about instituting a waiting period for the implementation of the legislation is regrettable and means that the provisions take effect from 5 December last, at a time many sectors were experiencing their busiest trading period. The EU directive on temporary agency work took effect across the European Union on that date. It was not open to the Government to determine a course of action in terms of a waiting period. This was a matter for the social partners and the breakdown of those talks has resulted in a situation where there is no lead-in period for the new measures.

Employers, big or small, have nothing to fear from the new measures but effective communication of the changes is key to ensuring both employers and the 35,000 employees affected fully understand the measures contained in this Bill.

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