Leaked temporary workers Directive

A European Commission draft Directive on the equal treatment of temporary workers has this week been leaked ahead of its official publication. The release of the final version Directive is not expected until after the AEU summit in Barcelona next month.

Reports confirm that the leaked draft Directive seeks to give temporary workers the same rights as permanent, full-time employees doing comparable jobs. These include rights to the same remuneration, pensions, holidays and other benefits such as health insurance, share schemes and bonuses.

Although often supplied through agencies, it is thought that temporary workers will be required to look to the end-user of their services rather than the agency to find a comparable permanent employee. The CBI takes the view that temporary workers should be guaranteed the same rights as temporary workers in other agencies, and not full-time employees. The CBI wants to see the Directive amended.

The Directive in its current draft would make life a lot more complicated for suppliers and users of contractors or workers who are generally engaged by agencies and then supplied on to end-user clients.
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