It’s not fashionable to underpay staff: ASOS Accused
Contractual documentation has revealed temporary ASOS warehouse staff receiving lesser wages for three months than regulations allow. The policy could potentially mean that the retailer has avoided paying out thousands of pounds to its temporary staff.
UK regulations regarding agency workers state “once an agency worker completes a 12-week qualifying period with the same hirer, in the same role, they will be entitled to have the same basic terms and conditions of employment as if they had been employed directly by the hirer.” Those same basic terms include pay.
However, the ASOS temporary workers, who are employed via an agency, have previously had to wait double that time for their pay to equal what permanent staffs are paid. The company tried to justify their actions, under the previous policy, so that any new permanent staff joining the warehouse would also have had to wait six months for the increase in pay, so through a loophole of terms there was equality between temporary and permanent staff.
Sejal Patel, Lawson-West’s employment paralegal, commented: “The payment structure which is used in this circumstance is created to avoid measures to guarantee that workers get treated equally and fairly. Agency worker regulations involve pay uniformity between temporary and permanent staff performing the same role after 12 weeks, so by manipulating contracts the workforce do receive the same pay. It is not the moral way that employers should work to support their staff. Potentially this is another example of a well known employer exploiting the UK’s labour market by avoiding to provide its workers with their basic rights.”
Have you experienced problems with the pay you receive? Please contact a member of the Lawson-West employment team on 0116 212 1000 for our Leicester based office or 01858 445 480 for Market Harborough.
