Equal rights for agency workers covered by collective agreements

An agency worker was employed as a handling operator at a Spanish company through a temporary work agency. During the assignment, the agency worker suffered a work-related injury and became permanently unable to work. The collective agreement for the permanent employees at the Spanish company would have given approximately 60,000 euros as compensation for the same work-related injury. Instead, the collective agreement at the temporary work agency, which the agency worker was covered by, gave a compensation of 10,500 euros.

The collective agreement was no excuse for unequal treatment

The European Court of Justice ruled that it violated the rules on equal treatment that agency workers were not entitled to the same work injury compensation as permanent employees of the user company. The court ruled that compensation for incapacity to work was an employment condition on par with, for example, salary, which is covered by the rules on equal treatment. It made no difference that the compensation was paid after the agency worker stopped.

IUNO’s opinion

The case could significantly impact temporary work agencies and companies that use agency workers. In the future, it will not be sufficient for a temporary work agency to be covered by a nationwide collective agreement if the agency worker is not guaranteed the same material employment conditions as the user company’s permanent employees. This applies to pay, working hours, overtime, breaks, rest periods, night work, holidays, and public holidays.

IUNO recommends that temporary work agencies and companies that use agency workers ensure that agency workers have at least the same material employment conditions as the user company’s own employees. This applies regardless of whether the temporary work agency is covered by a collective agreement.

[The European Court of Justice’s ruling of 22 February in case C-649-22]