Employers utilizing recruitment companies to discover momentary or irreversible employees have particular duties.
Recruitment agencies that discover personnel for other services, however pay the personnel themselves, are understood as 'em ployment companies'.
If you take on employees through a work service, they're accountable for guaranteeing the workers' rights under working time and base pay guidelines.
Recruitment agencies offering employees for farming, food processing, horticultural and shellfish-gathering markets are referred to as 'gangmasters' - if you use one, you require to ensure they are licensed gangmasters.
Employers' obligations
As a company, you are accountable for:
- agency workers' health and security
- ensuring they have the same access to shared facilities as other workers
- letting them understand about vacancies in your company
However, you can stop providing work to an agency employee, as long as they're not utilized by you.
Additional rights after 12 weeks
After 12 weeks in the very same job, firm workers are entitled to the exact same terms and conditions as workers doing the same or comparable work. This consists of:
- pay
- working time, rest periods and breaks
- night work
- annual leave
- time off for antenatal consultations for pregnant workers
For more details, see guidance on agency employee guidelines.
Transfer charges
Recruitment companies can charge a transfer fee if you use an employee straight, or an employee is provided to you through another recruitment company after their preliminary contract. Recruitment companies must inform you in your agreement if they intend to charge you transfer charges.
When an agency employee begins work with you, a recruitment firm can just charge a transfer charge if you take the worker on within either of the following durations, whichever ends later on:
- 8 weeks of completion of their last task with you
- 14 weeks of the start of their first project with you
If there has actually been a break of 42 days in between the employee's assignments with you, the 14 weeks will start from the start date of the most current project.
The recruitment agency may likewise charge you a transfer charge if:
- you present a worker to a 3rd party who then utilizes them during this duration
- you employ an employee introduced to you by a recruitment agency before they have actually started their task with you through the firm
Extended hire duration
If you use an employee provided to you by a recruitment company, the agency needs to offer you a prolonged hire period instead of charging you a transfer fee. This indicates they would continue to provide the worker to you for a predetermined duration without changing the terms of the assignment. Once the agreed duration ends, you would employ the worker straight without any transfer cost.
A recruitment firm might charge you a transfer fee if they present an employee to you and you employ them:
- before they begin work through the recruitment firm
- through a various company, before they start resolve the introducing recruitment company
In both cases, the introducing firm needs to provide the option of a hire period instead of charging you a transfer fee. The terms of this hire period should be set out in your agreement with the recruitment company.
