Temporary Agency Work and Social and Labour Rights: A Uniquely Precarious Arrangement?

The challenges of protecting temporary agency workers whilst simultaneously supporting economic growth and flexibility have long been recognised. Temporary agency work is seen to be a particularly vulnerable or precarious employment practice, and this is typically attributed to three factors. First, the intervention of an agency between worker and employment creates a ‘triangular’ relationship, and typically, a dual ‘employer’ for the temporary worker. Secondly, agency working is often temporary with workers often missing out on tenure-related employment rights. Thirdly, there is the possibility of differential treatment from comparable workers in client firms, an issue which the EU has sought to tackle through the Agency Working Directive.

This paper explores tensions resulting from the realities of agency working in the EU, particularly where agency workers are posted, The paper highlights that the body of essential employment conditions in the Agency Working Directive 2008/104 is much larger than that those in the Posted Workers Directive 96/71, which provides minimum standards for posted workers. The paper argues that agency workers, particularly where they are posted, are at extremely high risk of being deprived of essential social and labour rights than other workers who move. Drawing on evidence from interviews with EU level actors, and through a detailed case study of the experience of Ireland, the paper highlights how posted workers moving as agency temps frequently find themselves – even more than posted workers generally  - in low waged, precarious work.