Temporary agency workers: what are their rights and what are yours?

Temporary agency workers have been used by UK manufacturing companies to respond quickly to peaks and troughs in demand, greatly contributing to the overall flexibility of the manufacturing workforce. Recent developments in the courts have improved the protection afforded to agency workers but legislation being driven by the European Commission remains the main cause for concern in this area. The manufacturing sector is the largest user of temporary agency workers in the UK. As a result, changes to the law in this area are likely to have a significantly greater impact on manufacturing than on other sectors. The proposed directive commonly known as the temporary workers directive or agency workers directive is presented in the paper.