AQW 48069/11-15

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 01/07/2015
Answered On Date: 22/07/2015
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance and Personnel to estimate, in the event of an employment tribunal establishing that the Swedish Derogation contracts for temporary agency workers in NICS between 2011 and 2015, imposed by a recruitment agency under contract to her Department, were not lawfully administered in accordance with the Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011, and that equal pay rights had been wrongfully withheld during this period, the potential (i) legal and (ii) financial liabilities her Department may face as the hirer of these workers.

Answer:

The contract of employment for temporary agency workers in the NICS is with their respective agency, not the Department; therefore, my Department would not face any legal or financial liabilities as the hirer of the agency workers in the event of an employment tribunal establishing that the Swedish derogation contracts were not lawfully administered.