Supermarket giant denies that every little helps for agency workers

At the start of last month, the long anticipated Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) were finally introduced in the UK. These regulations effectively give temporary workers the right to the same pay and benefits as their permanently employed counterparts, once they have remained in the same job role for the qualifying period of 12 weeks.

The move has been heralded as a positive step for equality in the work place, and a good deal for temporary staff and contract workers. Unfortunately, the UK’s biggest supermarket brand, and one of the largest employers in the UK, disagrees.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Tesco has negotiated a deal with a haulage agency that means that truck drivers working for the supermarket on a temporary basis have had to waive their rights in relation to the AWR.

Swedish derogation – a get-out clause for employers

The approach, known as the ‘Swedish derogation’ model, means that the temporary workers are employed directly by their recruitment agency, effectively exempting them from having any rights under the new regulations. According to the Telegraph, this means that 400 lorry drivers have lost out on earning an additional £150 a week.

Despite being criticised by workers unions and others, Swedish derogation is entirely legal, and enables employers to avoid giving temporary workers any additional pay or rights that they would otherwise be legally obliged to receive under the regulations. Despite carrying out the same work for the hirer, in this case Tesco, the workers are officially and legally employed by the employment agency directly.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “This is not a Tesco initiative or a Tesco direction... The derogation is being used very widely across the economy by the agencies as a way of ensuring that agency work remains competitive and flexible.”

Tesco is certainly not the only big name employer to use the derogation model as a get-out clause for the new regulations. Food manufacturing giant Premier Foods is reported to be using derogation in some areas of its business, as is Carlsberg. Distribution company DHL and supermarket Morrisons are reportedly in negotiations to adopt the model, according to the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph respectively.