Should host employers have greater responsibility for temporary agency workers' employment rights?

Abstract

Many temporary agency workers receive poorer pay and employment conditions than workers performing similar tasks under traditional, direct hire arrangements. This is due to a number of factors, especially the failure in practice of employment regulation developed for standard employee–employer employment arrangements to be fully applicable in such indirect employment arrangements. This paper examines agency workers’ employment rights both against the standards of the International Labour Organization’s core labour rights, and in relation to occupational health and safety performance. The analysis demonstrates how a third party, the host employer, can influence the employment conditions of agency employees, yet bear limited responsibility for whether they satisfy minimum standards. These remain duties of the agency employer. The paper identifies a need to reconsider the legal responsibility of hosts and agency employers towards agency workers. Sharing responsibilities between hosts and agency employers may improve the likelihood of closing the gap between agency and direct hire workers’ employment conditions.