Rights of permanent contractors

Tazz T

Can't seem to find any information on the working rights of permanent contractors (freelance self-assessed), but I understand that after a set period of time these individuals are supposed to be given the same rights (holiday, sick leave, notice, etc) as permanent workers. Anyone have any info, or know of any resources.

Cheers in advance.

WhiteWashMan

Originally posted by Tazz T
Can't seem to find any information on the working rights of permanent contractors (freelance self-assessed), but I understand that after a set period of time these individuals are supposed to be given the same rights (holiday, sick leave, notice, etc) as permanent workers. Anyone have any info, or know of any resources.

Cheers in advance.

im curious about two things.

permanent contractor is surely a contradiction in terms!

why would a contractor be given the same rights as a full member of staff. i would have thought it was up to the contractor to negotiate his or her best package.

just curious, as i know nothing about contracting

Tazz T

Recent legislation was introduced to stop companies taking the pee out of freelance contractors. For example, a company could keep locking you into 3 month contracts without ever giving you a permanent job. You would be doing all the work of a permanent employee but the company would have none of the obligations to you; ie; no holiday pay, sick pay or redundancy pay etc.
AFAIK, after 11 months you are entitled to all the rights of a permanent employee, even with breaks between the contracts. Have found a few details here and there, but I nothing too detailed.

WhiteWashMan

ah, i think you are getting mixed up between a contractor, and someone who is on a probationary contract, with a view to get a full time permanent contract.

when i was working in ireland on a temp contract, i know there was no rules, so you may be right about the recent addition to the law, if so, i'd like to hear about it.
i also remember when the staff at intel were all on week to week contracts.
in my line of work, we have a lot of individuals who are on 3 month or 6 moth contracts with clients, but there is no law against that (in england)

but you are right, i have heard that after a certain amount of time, that you do get certain rights, but what they are etc, i know not.

can anyone shed any light?

amen

no he is right
I can't remember when or what act but basically several of the banks/supermarkets were employing ppl on rolling 11 month contracts with 1 week gaps between contracts so that they would have no obligations to their staff.

some ppl were on these contracts for 3-4 years

legislation was in acted early 90s to combat this

Victor

Originally posted by amen
I can't remember when or what act but basically several of the banks/supermarkets were employing ppl on rolling 11 month contracts with 1 week gaps between contracts so that they would have no obligations to their staff. some ppl were on these contracts for 3-4 years

Actually, the state was one of the biggest abusers of this. These people were temporary employees, not contractors.