Legal alert

A judgement in the legal claim being brought by the GMB union against four companies involved in the operation of Marks & Spencer’s South Marston, Swindon DC over agency staff pay could take months to be made.

The union revealed it had lodged a claim against DHL, Wincanton, Twenty Four Seven Recruitment Services and Tempay over the issue, alleging that 240 agency staff supplied by the two latter firms for warehouse work at the site since 2011 had been paid up to £2/hour less than warehouse workers doing the same work employed directly by the two 3PLs (MT 8 June).

The union has suggested the practice breaches the Agency Worker Regulations, which guarantee equal pay for agency staff after a qualifying period of 12 weeks, and also that a recent transfer of staff from Twenty Four Seven

Recruitment Services to Tempay failed to meet Tupe requirements.

Binder Bansel, head of employment at solicitors Pattinson & Brewer, which lodged the claim on behalf of the GMB, told MT a preliminary employment tribunal hearing was likely to take place later this year with “a full hearing sometime in 2016”.

The GMB told MT this week the case could result in a settlement of “a couple of million” with widespread ramifications for other firms in the logistics sector, given the widespread use of agency staff.

“This could affect an awful lot of companies and how they are working,”said GMB regional organiser Carole Vallelly.

Vallelly also cast doubt on the relationship between Twenty Four Seven Recruitment Services, which initially supplied the agency staff, and Tempay, which subsequently took over their employment, suggesting that while they “might technically have some differences in how they are registered, you can’t put a fag paper between them.”

Both firms are registered at what appears to be the same address in Wrexham, as are, or have been, a number of other firms including Twenty Four Seven Managed Services and Twenty Four Seven Recruitment Solutions, as well as a company called Temitex.

Some of the firms also share some of the same directors and shareholders, according to Companies House records.

DHL said that as the matter was subject to  legal proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment.

Wincanton declined to comment and Tempay and Temitex could not be reached as MT went to press.

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