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Agency workers employed by councils have new limits on their employment contracts, following a High Court ruling over a claim for unfair dismissal. The case of James v Greenwich LBC concerned a claim for unfair dismissal, after the council made the decision to replace the claimant with another worker supplied by the agency. The Court of Appeal ruled the claimant had no contractual relationship with the council, and so fell outside the job security scheme of statutory protection from unfair dismissal. Mark Hammerton, employment law partner at law firm Eversheds, said the decision was a ‘logical one', and despite the claimant falling outside protection from unfair dismissal, agency workers did have some rights to protection. ‘There are probably a significant number of these cases that will now be dismissed,' Mr Hammerton told The MJ. ‘There are about 1.4m to 1.5m agency workers, which represents a large portion of the country's workforce. This is a huge issue for local government because many councils rely on this flexible pool of labour, particularly in social care.' In the short term, Mr Hammerton said the ruling would not have an impact on agency staff or councils, but plans to bring in a private members Bill enhancing agency workers' rights could have a major impact on the UK's workforce and its flexibility. He added: ‘This may lead end service-users, including councils, to think, why should we still use agency workers? The UK is in a good position with such a flexible workforce. If passed, the Bill would be anti-business, anti-flexibility and anti-competitive.' A CBI spokesman urged MPs to resist calls to support the proposed Bill, explaining that agency staff had many rights, including working time, paid holiday and minimum wages, and they provided businesses with much-needed flexibility.

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Agency workers to face new job limits

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