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Nichola Evans is a partner and employment law specialist at Rowe Cohen Solicitors. She spells out the rules that apply to everyone employed in the UK - irrespective of the sector or trade. The farming industry, Nichola stresses, is bound by the same rules as everyone else. The argument 'It's normal practice in farming' does not enter the legal equation.
1) Same deal as permanent staff
'Fixed term' workers (that term includes temporary or seasonal worker) cannot be treated any less favourably than permanent employees unless there is a legitimate business reason, under the provisions of The Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations*. A 'legitimate business reason' is not something to be taken lightly or used as a cop-out. It would need to be a sufficiently compelling reason to persuade a Court or Employment Tribunal. Employers must be careful not to offer seasonal workers less annual leave, bonuses or training than regular staff.
2) Wages
>From the Courts' or Employment Tribunals' standpoint, seasonal workers
>are exactly the same as permanent employees and will be treated in exactly the same way. They enjoy all the normal protection that other employees have. One of their most important rights, in the farming sector, is their entitlement to the minimum wage.

'Informal' arrangements to pay a stated amount by the shift, day, part of a day are only legal if, on balance, the rate of pay equals or exceeds the minimum hourly rate specified by law. In fact, there is no such thing as 'informal' employment arrangement. Every employee of every type has a contractual arrangement with his or her employer whether they think so or not.

3) Parting of the way

If an employee is dismissed at the end of a fixed period or seasonal work, the mere fact that the need to employ someone has reduced (say, by the project nearing completion) does not in itself make the dismissal fair. You can't just tell an employee that they're laid off beca weather is holding up progress on sales of new housing units are slow. If the worker has clocked-up one year's employment then he or she may present an 'unfair dismissal' claim to the Employment Tribunal.
4) Totting-up
If workers are engaged - but then laid-off for a very short period of time - then re-employed, The Employment Tribunal may take the view that there has been more than one year's 'continuous' employment. The Tribunal may also choose to tot-up a number of years' service and decide that there has been continuity of employment - then award more compensation accordingly. This may present difficult management problems in a fluctuating, essentially seasonal trade but that is where the law stands.

5) Notice
If an employer wants to let a seasonal worker go, the normal rules must be followed. If the employee has been employed for more than one month, they are entitled to a paid Notice period of at least one week. The law says one week's paid Notice is due for every year of employment, up to a maximum of twelve weeks. If the Contract of Employment is more generous on the question of Notice periods, then that must be observed. It's sensible to build this additional cost into wage calculations.
6) Last in - first out?
Employers are also not permitted to select 'fixed term' workers first for redundancy. Again, they must be treated exactly the same as permanent employees.
In the past it has been common practice for temporary and seasonal workers to be regarded as 'second-class' employees and treated shabbily in terms of pay, conditions, notice and bonuses.
Happily, those days are gone. In these times, any worker in any industry has equal rights with any other - irrespective of their age, sex, religion, race, sexual orientation, or colour.
The law makes no exceptions to accommodate particular industries where market or trading conditions fluctuate more than usual. It's up to the employers to iron out the peaks and troughs in income and expenditure. Employees can no longer be made to suffer bec
periods and income shortfalls.
7) Not me, surely?
This is not just 'red tape' legislation. It has teeth - and they bite where it hurts most, straight into the bottom line. Industries and organisations that have been slow to adapt and accept this new order are discovering, as they write out hefty cheques to cover compensation awards, that times really have changed.
If you're in any doubt, seek professional advice from an employment law specialist.

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