Contributors
Kocur v Angard Staffing Solutions Ltd and another [2019] EWCA Civ 1185
Facts
Mr Kocur was supplied by Angard Staffing Solutions Ltd (Angard) to work as a temporary agency worker at Royal Mail Group Ltd (RMG). He had worked there for over 12 weeks so was entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as if he had been recruited directly by RMG. He brought an employment tribunal claim against Angard and RMG for breach of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. Part of his claim was that he was not given the same amount of work as direct employees; he was allocated less than 20 hours per week and he argued this was less than RMG employees.
Decision
The Court of Appeal dismissed his claim, holding that the Regulations do not entitle agency workers to work the same number of contractual hours as a comparator. This was consistent with the purpose of both the Regulations and the Directive on which they are based, which is to ensure the equal treatment of agency workers and permanent employees at work but it does not govern how much work agency workers are entitled to be given.
Comment
This is a helpful decision for employers as it clarifies the Regulations and means that they do not have to ensure that agency workers are given the same amount of work as permanent staff. The Court of Appeal noted that to find otherwise would be contrary to the reason for using agency workers, which is to give the hirer flexibility in the size of workforce available.
