The legal rights of agency workers

The statutory rights of agency workers derive from several different legal sources:

Rights as “workers”

Agency workers qualify for all the basic statutory rights of “workers” (see page 73). These include:

• statutory paid holiday under the Working Time Regulations;

• statutory rest breaks and limits on working time;

• no unlawful deduction from wages;

• the National Minimum Wage;

• statutory sick pay;

• statutory maternity, adoption or paternity pay, if they meet the earnings, service and notice qualifications (but not maternity, adoption or paternity leave);

• protection from discrimination by the agency and the hirer;

• protection from victimisation on grounds of trade union membership;

• pensions auto-enrolment for agency workers meeting the earnings threshold (see Chapter 10);

• the right to be accompanied; and

• protection under health and safety laws.