EU employment ministers have agreed to adopt a long-standing proposal for an EU directive on temporary workers and to accept a number of modifications to the existing working time directive. The new draft temporary workers measure grants them equal rights to pay, sick pay and holidays as permanent employees in user companies after 12 weeks operating in the same post. EU employers will also now be subject to a new upper limit on individual work-weeks which may not exceed 78 hours in any one week and an average of 60 hours (or 65 hours if inclusive of on-call time) over any three-month period. Moreover, no waiver to work beyond 48 hours per week may be signed by a new employee until they have been employed for at least one month - although contractors working for periods of up to ten weeks will be able to opt out of the 48-hour week immediately.
TLT Solicitors