Great Britain: unions and associations call for clearer employment statuses to protect vulnerable workers

Two complicated employment statuses. The first problem is the definition of the employment status in labor law. The rights and protection of people working in the UK vary with their status. “Employees” are a specific category of “workers” whose employment and working conditions are precisely determined in the employment contract. Thus, these employees have a payroll, maternity, paternity and adoption leaves, right to flexible work, and layoff pay, to name a few. “Workers” – a general category including people working under a subordinate relation but which, contrary to the notion of ‘employees,’ mostly concerns non-permanent staff, i.e. mostly agency workers – are only entitled to limited protection in terms of pay, working time, paid leave, discrimination – i.e. minimum standards. Self-employed workers, on principle not subordinate – have even fewer rights: limited protection regarding discrimination, and health and safety, no unemployment or sickness benefits, among others. Besides, there are different definitions of these terms in the law. To add to the mix-up, there are also several anomalies in the law: for instance, the rights adopted in 2000 for part-time workers apply to all “workers” while the rights added in 2004 for staff with a fixed-term contract only apply to “employees.”
Enjoy this article for free while you’re in your trial period
You have access to our content for 1 month.

scrimination, and health and safety, no unemployment or sickness benefits, among others. Besides, there are different definitions of these terms in the law. To add to the mix-up, there are also several anomalies in the law: for instance, the rights adopted in 2000 for part-time workers apply to all “workers” while the rights added in 2004 for staff with a fixed-term contract only apply to “employees.”


Self-employed status often used wildly. As a consequence, a growing number of people (agency wo

Do you have information to share with us?
What you absolutely must read this week
The essential content of the week selected by the editorial team.
See all
United Kingdom largely retained within scope of EWCs despite Brexit, study shows
A study published this month by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the French trade union research organisation, examined how the involvement of British representatives in European...
Spain: government approves creation of ‘intern status’
The Spanish government has paved the way for the creation of a new status for "persons undergoing non-professional practical training in companies, institutions or public or private organisations...
Luxembourg: two pension reform bills submitted to parliament
After lengthy negotiations with the social partners, in mid-October the Luxembourg government submitted two bills to parliament aimed at reforming the pension system to ensure its long-term...
Germany: pensioners in work already common practice, study shows
As the German government steps up measures to encourage people to stay in work beyond the legal retirement age, a new study by the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) – an independent...
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
Germany: pensioners in work already common practice, study shows
As the German government steps up measures to encourage people to stay in work beyond the legal retirement age, a new study by the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) – an independent...
2
Spain: government approves creation of ‘intern status’
The Spanish government has paved the way for the creation of a new status for "persons undergoing non-professional practical training in companies, institutions or public or private organisations...
3
France: social conference on labour and pensions to proceed without main employers’ group
The preparatory meeting ahead of the social conference on labour and pensions, which is set to decide on the pension system model and the funding thereof, was held on 4 November at France's labour...
4
Luxembourg: two pension reform bills submitted to parliament
After lengthy negotiations with the social partners, in mid-October the Luxembourg government submitted two bills to parliament aimed at reforming the pension system to ensure its long-term...
5
Candice Guillot (Talan): “Our recruiters save just over 80 hours per year on administrative tasks thanks to AI”
Candice Guillot, group director of employee experience and HR performance at Talan (7,000 employees), outlines for mind RH her vision and strategy for introducing artificial intelligence at the...