Zero hours contracts - the facts and the alternatives
Published
18th May 2015
by Admin
HR Expert David Wright looks at the pros and cons of zero hour contracts.
The first thing to say is that zero hours contracts aren’t new. Staff have been employed on a “casual basis” for many years. Recently, zero hours contracts have had some really bad press. This is particularly the case where employees are working regular hours on a regular basis but contractually don’t have any guaranteed hours. In some cases, they are told they can’t work for other employers - the term used is “exclusivity”.
Zero hours contracts can be highly appropriate in situations where you want an individual or a small pool of staff to cover peaks of work, or holidays or sickness. But, generally you might expect one or two staff to be on zero hours, not all of them.
Equally there are employees in the workforce who, for a variety of reasons, like the facility to be able to pick and choose when and if they wish to work, they simply advise their employer of their availability.
Generally though zero hours aren’t attractive and, at best, they are used as a stepping stone into permanent work.
The Myths
Sometimes employers contact me and believe that staff on zero hours do not have employment rights but this is incorrect. If someone on zero hours works regularly and earns more than the earnings requirement they are eligible for statutory sick pay and similarly statutory maternity pay. Zero hours doesn’t mean zero holidays or holiday pay. Zero hours staff are entitled to both. If someone works for you continuously on zero hours for two years they have the normal right to claim unfair dismissal
The Law/The Future
While zero hours contracts have become high profile recently, one change already planned under the zero hours workers (exclusivity terms) Regulations 2015 is that there will be a legal definition of what a zero hours worker is .The definition is shown below
- the undertaking to do or perform work or services is an undertaking to do so conditionally on the employer making work or services available to the worker, and
- there is no certainty that any such work or services will be made available to the worker.