Clause 1
Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill
10:00 am
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 1, in clause 1, page 1, line 2, leave out ‘, or employment agency,’.
I had wanted to table an amendment to deal with the lack of a definition of “temporary worker” in the Bill, and thus to leave out any reference to the term. I have been unable to do so because such a description is part of the long title, but I will table an amendment of that nature in the future. A “temporary worker” could be a synonym for an agency worker, in which case it is not required, but it could be something else, such as a worker supplied on secondment by an employer to a client. It could be a temporary worker engaged directly by the employer, but it is difficult to make progress on a Bill when we do not know what the reference to “temporary worker” means. I should therefore be grateful if the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston would explain what he means by a temporary worker as that may enable us to make progress on the Bill.
This amendment would leave out the reference to “employment agency”. That expression is not appropriate and it is an example of the confused thinking that unfortunately is found in the Bill. Employment agencies find employment for employees with employers. They do not employ workers, so how we can compare whether they have meted out less favourable treatment in employment when the relationship between themselves and the worker ceases when the worker has the job?