Gangmaster raids expose illegal working conditions

Spot checks have revealed the illegal and harsh world of east European workers packing vegetables for the country's biggest supermarket chains.

Inspectors from the Government's new agricultural labour agency found serious breaches of employment laws when they visited three packing plants in the West Midlands

None of scores of migrant workers had contracts of employment and most were not paid the national minimum wage. Many had been working for more than 10 hours a day and had not been given proper breaks or holiday pay.

Some alleged they had been intimidated by their employer, or gangmaster.

The Gangmasters Licensing Agency (GLA), which was set up after the Morecambe Bay cockle-picking tragedy, revoked the licences of all seven gangmasters supplying the workers. They had been working at Bomfords, one of the country's largest vegetable suppliers whose clients include Tesco and Sainsbury.

Supermarkets said they were "shocked" by the allegations and would be investigating the cases as a matter of urgency.

The inspections took place last week at Bomfords' plants at Pershore in Worcestershire, and Atherstone and Salford Priors in Warwickshire. They found about 250 migrant workers, understood to be Poles and Slovaks, processing and packing green beans and chillies. Of the seven gangmasters, who were supplying labour to Bomfords, all seven failed to provide contracts or health and safety training or legal driving licences. Five were not paying the national minimum wage or giving pay slips or keeping records of days and hours worked. Three had breached the 48-hour week and had no record of tax or national insurance payments. Two were in breach of rules on rest breaks. Six of the gangmasters have been allowed to continue in business until the end of an appeal process of 40 working days. But the breaches by one, Dynamic Workforce Ltd of Smethwick, were so serious it was ordered to cease trading immediately.

Dynamic, which was unavailable for comment, was found to have been breaching the rules on "physical and mental mistreatment" of workers. It was the only gangmaster named.

To read this article in full please click here

Source: The Independent

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Cautious approach to national minimum wage rise fully justified

The recommendation by the Low Pay Commission to increase the National Minimum Wage (NMW) by just 17p (or 3pc) to £5.52 per hour from next October - which has been accepted by the Government - will disappoint low paid workers and anti-poverty campaigners but is a sensible decision following several years of substantial real and relative hikes in the minimum rate, says John Philpott, Chief Economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Dr Philpott says: “The common good requires a NMW that ensures low paid workers share in growing prosperity without at the same time threatening the jobs that provide them with a livelihood. The Low Pay Commission has served to strike a fair balance on the ‘low pay or no pay’ spectrum, since 1999 and today’s recommendation is no different. Growth in the NMW has easily outstripped both price and average wage inflation throughout this decade. A cautious increase this year at (if not slightly below) growth in average pay, and in line with what price inflation will probably be come the autumn, seems sensible.

“With the NMW now starting to bite, especially for younger workers, a period of caution is fully justified if jobs are not to be put at risk. The Government is therefore also right to be doubly cautious in not extending the full adult NMW rate to 21 year olds. This will disappoint many, particular 18-21 year olds and 16-17 year olds who will see their hourly pay rise by just 15p and 10p respectively. But if the NMW is to succeed as a long-term policy instrument it must be set at a rate that while improving pay at the bottom of the labour market does not have adverse consequences for jobs, inflation and the wider economy

Source: Daily Telegraph

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Chance for companies to accelerate green strategy

Businesses who want to step up a gear with their environmental performance are invited to a national event taking place at Mallory Park race circuit in Leicestershire

The Getting Green on Track event is from April 18 to 20 and will include topics such as food and drink, motoring, recycling and bio-fuels.

The first two days are trade days for businesses to attend and the third day will be for schools, colleges and universities.

The event is to be backed by Envirowise, the Government-funded advice service for businesses. Sponsors include Groundwork Leicester, Leicestershire Recycling Solutions and Local Alchemy.

Organiser Sue Langley, of BDI Consultants, said: "This event will help many businesses large and small to plan their environmental strategy cost-effectively."

For free tickets, call BDI Consultants on 0845 450 0448.

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Minister calls for flexible hours for all

A cabinet minister has called for flexible working rights to be extended so that they apply to all workers. At present, only parents of children under the age of six, or disabled children under 18, have the right to request flexible working.

However, making the rights much more widely available would help 29 million employees balance their home and work lives better, according to the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Beverley Hughes.

"Everyone has a life outside work, not just parents," she has said in a new book.

"We must redefine the 'ideal worker' and accept it is a fantasy to expect people to have none other than work commitments."

"Indeed, many people make valuable contributions to their communities in their non-work time.

"It is unacceptable for family-friendly employment to be an option only for those parents — often women — who downshift in pay and status.

"Work-life balance is still unobtainable for many low-income families, where the impact of low pay, job insecurity and long or atypical working hours bite hardest," the minister wrote in a new publication for the Institute for Public Policy Research.

She argued that the best way to help children see more of their parents was for Britain's working culture to change.

The right to request flexible working will be extended to people with a caring responsibility from April, but Ms Hughes said everyone should be able to ask their employer if they can change their working patterns.

She also argued that all jobs should be advertised as part-time, flexi-time or shared unless there was a sound business case against this.

Paternity leave should be doubled to a month, while maternity and paternity pay should rise, the minister suggested in the book, which will be published in May, to mark the 10th anniversary of Labour's 1997 election victory.

To read this article in full please click here

Source The Telegraph

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Agency workers: past, present and future

The DTI has, this week, announced plans to introduce a series of measures designed to give greater protection to certain agency workers. The proposals follow the publication of a green paper by the European Commission, in which it vows to look again at the question of whether agency workers' rights should be enhanced. In the meantime, the question of whether an agency worker is an employee of the end-user of their labour continues to trouble tribunals.

The most recent decision from the Employment Appeal Tribunal makes it clear that it will rarely be appropriate to imply that a contract of employment has arisen between a worker and end-user, provided the agency arrangements are genuine and accurately reflect how the work is actually being performed.
The past
Until a few years ago, claims from agency workers that they were employed by the end-user of their labour were generally thought to be destined to fail. The workers' downfall was their inability to prove that they had entered into a contractual relationship directly with the end-user.
Then came the Court of Appeal's decision in the case of Dacas v Brook Street Bureau (UK) Ltd, which seemed to turn the established law on its head. The Court of Appeal held that where there is no express contract between the parties in any particular case, it is necessary to consider whether there might still be an implied contract. More controversially, one of the three Lords Justice of Appeal in that case made it very clear that, in his view, an employment contract would inevitably arise if a worker's engagement with the end-user were to carry on for more than 12 months. Another of the judges, though less emphatic, seemed to be inclined to a similar view.
The present
The first sign that the pendulum was swinging back in favour of employers came last year, when another agency worker case reached the Court of Appeal. The case was Cable & Wireless v Muscat. There, the Court of Appeal confirmed that it is only possible to imply that a contract of employment exists between an agency worker and the end-user where it is necessary to do so in order to give business reality to a transaction.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently considered the 'necessity' test again. In James v Greenwich Council the EAT held that, in typical three-party agency arrangements, the question to ask is whether the way in which the contract is, in reality, performed is consistent with those agency arrangements or whether it is only consistent with there being an implied contract between the worker and end-user. The EAT made it clear that it will rarely be appropriate to imply a contract between the worker and the end-user where the agency arrangements are genuine, so long as they accurately reflect how the work is actually being performed. In such cases there will usually be no need to conjure up a third contract to explain the relationship between the worker and the end-user. What is more, the EAT stressed that this will be so even if the arrangement between the worker and end-user lasts a long time.
The decision in James should give comfort to those who rely on agency workers, at least where the agency arrangements are accurately recorded in carefully drafted documents and the work is being performed in a way that is consistent with those documents.
The futureThe EAT concluded its judgment in James by observing that 'many agency workers are highly vulnerable and need to be protected from the abuse of economic power by the end-users'.

To read the latest proposals including the DTI’s consultation paper click here

Source: Eversheds

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The webs largest HR resource is now freely available from Encore

Our guide gives you valuable advice on everything to do with employing staff from recruitment through development to dismissal procedures. We are sure that no matter who you are in business this HR Portal will offer you the advice when you need it and for free.

There are some excellent links to external sites which will prove valuable as you study a particular area of interest. Have a look and click on an area of relevance from the list below

Taking on staff

• Recruitment and getting started
• Paperwork

Pay and pensions

• Paying your staff
• Pension schemes

Managing your staff

• Setting the rules
• Working time and time off
• Equal opportunities
• Health, safety and working environment
• Employee representatives and trade unions
• Organisational change

Improving staff performance

• Skills and training
• Motivation

Problems and incidents

• Dismissals, redundancies and other exits
• Disciplinary problems, disputes and grievances

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EU to lift limit on migrants, predicts minister

Restrictions on Bulgarians wanting to work in Britain and other European countries are likely to be lifted early next year, according to the country’s employment minister.

Emilia Maslarova has told the Bulgarian media that she expects the cap on workers to be dropped in January when it comes up for its annual review.

Limits on Bulgarian and Romanian workers were imposed by Britain along with several other EU governments because they feared an exodus when the countries joined the EU on January 1.

Britain pledged to review the restrictions after a year and would be unlikely to drop them for Bulgaria without also scrapping them for Romania.

Bulgarian media reported that Ms Maslarova said that she expected some of the old member states of the EU to lift restrictions at the start of next year.

Under the terms of the restrictions, 20,000 low-skilled workers from the two countries are allowed visas this year. They will last up to six months and do not give access to state benefits or public housing. Highly-qualified workers can fill a vacancy provided no British candidates can be found.

The limits were imposed after a row over the high number of migrants who moved to Britain after the accession of eight eastern European countries in 2004. Officials predicted 13,000 arrivals a year, but up to 600,000 made the journey.

Source The Times

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Low pay breach likely to cost Butlins £1m

An estimated 6,000 seasonal employees at Butlins and Haven Holidays camps are in line to share around £1m in back pay following what HM Revenue & Customs described as a landmark minimum wage ruling.

Bar staff, shop assistants, receptionists, security staff and some electricians and plumbers qualify for the estimated £166 a head rebate after the Court of Appeal ruled that deductions made by their employers for heating and lighting meant their pay fell below the national minimum wage, currently £5.35 an hour for adults.

The businesses, owned by Leisure Employment Services, deducted £3 a week from the pay of staff living on site. The court decided the employers had breached the minimum wage rules and also failed to demonstrate that the money had gone to pay utility bills.

The case marked the end of a near three-year battle. Queries from camp staff about the payments following changes to an earlier discarded deductions arrangement resulted in Customs & Revenue taking up the case in 2004.

They served a minimum wage enforcement order but lost an employment tribunal case when Butlins' owners disputed the claim. The tax authorities won rounds two and three after an Employment Appeals Tribunal overturned the original decision and Leisure Employment Services lost out after taking the case to the Court of Appeal.

Denise Gaston, national minimum wage business manager at Customs & Revenue, said: "The ruling is good news for all workers living in accommodation provided by their employer. It reinforces the fact that deductions for things like heating and lighting must not take workers' pay below their legal entitlement."

Butlins and Haven Holidays believe the ruling will only affect a few hundred people. A spokesman said the £3 a week deduction was well below the cost of utility tariffs paid at the camps.

Source The Daily Telegraph

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Issue 35– March 2007
Welcome to the March issue of Encore enews – a magazine read by 5000 recruiters of Blue Collar staff every single month!

The first raid by Gangmaster Licensing Act inspectors (see leading article) to result in the closure of a labour supplier has been reported in the West Midlands.

The breaches were so significant (physical and mental mistreatment of workers) that the agency was closed immediately.

We believe that the vast majority of labour providers work ethically and professionally but it is the rogue traders that need to be policed. Perhaps now with this first closure ‘notched up’ some of these disreputable organisations will take heed and review their employment policies. Or perhaps, by the very nature of their business ethics, they will just continue to flout the law Caveat emptor - Buyer beware!

Greg Latham
Managing Director

This months round up of local business news: