AGENCY workers at BMW’s Cowley Mini car plant could still be laid off without notice – despite new laws due to come into force next year.

While the Agency Workers Regulations will see temporary staff enjoying many of the the same rights as their full-time colleagues, experts say the burden will lie with the agency which employs them rather than clients such as Mini parent company BMW.

Employment law specialist Craig Gordon, of Abingdon-based employment advisers HRbullets.co.uk, said: “While the regulations improve the lot of agency workers, they do not change their status.

“They will be entitled to benefits such as canteen, childcare and transport.

“But the use of agency workers will still enable hirers to achieve flexibility in the workplace.

“They remain the employees of the agency.”

Mr Gordon added that before the new law comes into force next October, agencies and employers should negotiate on how it should be handled, with the cost of agency staff likely to become more expensive as a result of the extra obligations.

He said: “Hirers of agency workers should not panic. The main burden of compliance will fall on staffing companies but hirers will have obligations towards agency workers from day one of any assignment.”

Judith Thompson, a spokesman for Right4Staff, which supplies agency staff to BMW in Cowley, said: “The comprehensive guidance from the Government is yet to be published.

“Once the legislation has been clarified, we will be meeting all our clients to discuss how the directive may impact on them.”

The most recent lay-offs at the Cowley plant came last month when BMW ended the Saturday shift, with the loss of 140 jobs.

BMW plant spokesman Rebecca Baxter said: “The company continues to monitor the progress of the Agency Workers’ Directive to understand what this means for the business.”

A range of other agency workers and recruitment firms will also find find themselves affected by the new law and it is likely that with the additional expense incurred, there will be fewer opportunities for jobseekers.

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman Oliver Francis said: “We’re cutting back on agency staff.

“And as regards the new regulations, it will be the agencies, not the hirers, who will have to pay the extra benefits to staff remaining in post for more than 12 weeks.”

Tracy Hoodless, of Oxford employment agency Champion Recruitment, said: “With the spending cuts in the public sector, temps are already finding themselves the first out of the door.”

Employment lawyer Rebecca Ireland, of Oxford law firm Morgan Cole, explained that agency workers will receive many employment rights as long as they have been employed for a 12-week period.

She said: “They will be entitled to basic working conditions which are no less favourable than if they had been recruited directly by the hirer.

“However, occupational pensions and sick-pay schemes are specifically excluded.

“Employers cannot avoid these rights simply by terminating and immediately re-engaging at 11 weeks, as continuity will only be broken if there is a gap of at least six calendar weeks between assignments.”

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