UNISON: Agency Workers Regulations disclosure victories

UNISON has secured two important tribunal victories enforcing the AWR disclosure obligations:

In the first claim, against Barnet Council, UNISON v (1) London Borough of Barnet and (2) NSL Limited Case No. 3302128/2012 (unreported), the council provided some information, but failed to provide information as to the parts of the business where agency workers were employed and the type of work they were carrying out. Protective awards of between 40 and 50 days’ pay were ordered. In making its award, the tribunal noted:

• that the missing information was important and valuable to the union, whose main task in the consultation is to try to save jobs. This was not just a technical breach;

• that the information had been supplied in the past and was readily accessible to the HR department;

• that the union’s many requests had been ignored, even after the union drew attention to the statutory obligation; and

• the adverse impact of the failure on the workers made redundant or TUPE transferred.

Barnet Council appealed the size of the award, leading to a negotiated settlement by the union enabling affected employees to be paid compensation without the need to re-litigate in the tribunal.

UNISON followed this win with a further successful claim on behalf of employees of Lambeth Council. In March 2013, an employment tribunal awarded 45 days’ pay in compensation to 36 call centre workers made redundant as a result of the outsourcing of work to Capita in late 2011. Again, Capita had failed to provide information requested by the union about its use of agency workers, in breach of the regulations (UNISON v Capita Business Services Limited, Case No. 2341219/2012, 7 March 2013, London South Employment Tribunal, unreported).