Employment Law

Civil Litigation Ireland

The information given herein is for guidance only. No responsibility is accepted for any error or inaccuracy . Full legal advice should be obtained.

Agency workers are generally defined as workers who register with employment agencies and take temporary work with third parties. Until recently they were neither employees of the employment agency nor employees of the client company. Therefore they were not protected under employment legislation. Lately, however, legislative changes have ensured that agency workers are covered in the same manner as direct employees of the employer. The provisions of the following acts apply to them:

  • Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 1993
  • Payment of Wages Act, 1991
  • Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994
  • Maternity Protection Act, 1995
  • Adoptive Leave Act, 1995
  • Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997
  • Employment Equality Act, 1998

THE EMPLOYER

In most cases the employer will be the agency. However, in certain cases the employer may be deemed to be the provider of the work i.e. the company in whose physical premises the agency worker actually works.