The Dangers Of Being Too Casual With Your Workers
As the beautiful British summer approaches together with the inevitable sight of knotted handkerchiefs and smoke from hastily erected barbeques, many businesses in the region will be looking forward to a busy and profitable season ahead.
For many, this is likely to include taking on some additional staff on a casual basis, often students or overseas workers, to help with the increased workload. Taking on such staff without a full awareness of your responsibilities towards them however has the potential to put a very dark cloud over what should be one of the most enjoyable and lucrative times of the year.
Casual workers are those who supply their labour in irregular and often informal working arrangements under which there is no obligation on the employer to provide work, nor on the worker to accept it.
These arrangements often suit both the employer and the worker; particularly in local seasonal industries, such as tourism and agriculture.
As long as those casual employees provide services to the person using them, it is likely that they will qualify under the legal definition of ‘workers’, meaning that they have certain minimum rights guaranteed to them under statute.
These rights will include:
- The right for the worker to earn the National Minimum Wage. This is currently set at £5.52 for workers aged 22 and over, £4.60 for those aged 18-21, and £3.40 for those aged 16-17.
- The right for the worker to be paid annual leave. This will be an entitlement to a minimum of 4.8 weeks’ paid leave in the leave year (inclusive of bank holidays) which should be pro-rated depending on how long the individual carries out work for you. If there is an accrued but untaken amount of annual leave when the worker leaves, then they will be entitled to be paid for this.
- The right for the worker to take rest breaks, including a daily rest period of 11 hours uninterrupted rest per day, 24 hours uninterrupted rest per week (or at the employer’s choice, 48 hours per fortnight), and a rest break of 20 minutes when working a shift of more than 6 hours.
- The right for the individual worker not to be forced to work more than a maximum working week of 48 hours, unless they agree in writing to waive this right.
Workers will also benefit from the protection afforded by the discrimination legislation. This includes the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of race, sex, age, or on grounds of religion or belief. If taking on students, or workers from overseas, then these things could be of particular relevance.
The penalties connected to ignoring these rights can be financial, but also criminal. If you are taking on any such casual workers this summer, then it would be sensible to make sure you are fully up to speed with what rights these individuals have and to make sure that you have clear documentation in place to protect yourself. Failing to do this could lead to a penalty far more painful than sunburn.
For more information or advice, contact James Collings
Published 21/02/2008. The author of this article is James Collings
