Dodgy work situation and possible misclassification?

oatcake

Hi all,

I graduated last year so with regards to my situation I am completely out of my depth. It's a bit complicated and hard to explain so please bear with me.

Basically I was hired by a company(company 1) who are not an agency who then sent me to work for their client, another company(company 2) who gets me to work for and pretend that i am one of their employees in another company(company 3). There are a few of us in this situation and this is my first ever proper job.

I am not sure what I would be classed as, Agency worker, contractor?

I get paid by company 1 but supervised by company 2. However I must report to both companies with regards to sick leave, holidays etc. Company 2 treat me like an employee which I don't think is right as I am not actually one of their employees but rather a contractor or maybe agency worker?

Now company 1 doesn't need us and I was told we were hired by them solely for company 2(was not told this at the start). I was told in a nice way that rather than have to fire us we can agree to start actually working for company 2 within the next month. Now over the past four months I had been trying to contact my boss at company 1 about a pay increase after my probation period and they told me they had been avoiding my calls because of this and it had been in talks for months.

I was also told it was in the contract that company 2 could not poach or buy us from company 1 which is what is happening. So essentially the way I see it is, we have been fired from company 1 so that company 2 could take us.

I am very out of my depth in this situation and not happy about it at all. I feel like because I am only a graduate like the others that they are using that as an advantage because we don't know are rights.

My line of work is within company 1 and not company 2 and I don't wish to work for them. However with the current climate I feel obligated to take the job so that I am not unemployed.

What I am essentially asking is, is this all above board? Are they taking the piss and should I go find another job?

Nody

Sounds like you're a agency worker employed at company A who've hired you out to company B. As fro what they are doing is over the board; well with the information you've given Company A is basically making you redundant due to no further work and being there for such a short time you have no right for redundancy (beyond notice period). So yes, your options are take the job at company B or be out of work basically.

Irish_Elect_Eng

What you are experiencing now is not uncommon.

There was a period where larger companies,particularly the multis were using agency staff as contractors to avoid increasing their permanent headcount and having to manage the bad press associated with having to hire/fire with market demands.

However,recently many of them have wised up to the fact that it is much cheaper to manage the "temporary" staff themselves and have begun to bring the agency workers in-house, the workers get the same money or sometimes a little more to sweeten the move, but the company no longer has to pay the agency fees, making a significant saving.

The shorter your "employment chain" the more control that you have over your career and remuneration. Look on the positive side of the opportunity.