AQW 48068/11-15

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim


Tabled Date: 01/07/2015
Answered On Date: 21/07/2015
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance and Personnel to detail, between 2011 and 2015, the number of temporary agency workers on assignment to her Department who have (i) received out-of-court settlements from their recruitment agency to recover unlawfully withheld wages due to misapplied and ineffective Swedish Derogation contracts wrongfully denying them equal pay rights under Regulation 5 of the Agency Worker Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011; (ii) been required to sign non-disclosure statements by the agency as part of their settlement for unlawfully withheld wages, preventing them from speaking openly about their experiences; and (iii) been subsequently barred by the agency from taking up publicly advertised NICS temporary vacancy posts through the same recruitment agency following these settlements, in breach of Regulation 17 of the Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011.


Answer: