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STATES OF JERSEY
ZERO-HOURS CONTRACTS
Lodged au Greffe on 1st September 2016 by Deputy S.Y. Mézec of St. Helier
STATES GREFFE
2016 P.92
PROPOSITION
THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion
- that exclusivity clauses' in zero-hours contracts should be prohibited; and
- to request the Minister for Social Security, in consultation with the Employment Forum, to bring forward within 6 months for approval by the States the necessary draft legislation to give effect to the proposals.
DEPUTY S.Y. MÉZEC OF ST. HELIER
REPORT
This Proposition is supported by, and lodged on behalf of, Reform Jersey.
Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel: Zero-hour contracts – Report (S.R.3/2016): Recommendation 11 – "The Minister should consult with a view to bringing forward proposals to amend the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 to abolish exclusivity clauses".
Exclusivity clauses are clauses in an employment contract which prohibit the employee from taking up work with another employer, regardless of whether that employee has guaranteed hours as part of their employment contract.
From 26th May 2015, exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts have been unenforceable in the UK.
There is agreement on all sides of the political spectrum in Jersey that exclusivity clauses should be banned, with the Minister for Social Security, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and representatives from many local Trade Unions having all publicly endorsed this view.
On 22nd August 2016, the Minister for Social Security published her response to the recommendations made by the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel, in which she rejects the vast majority of their findings.
The reason for rejecting many of these recommendations was based on an assertion that the Department could not take on this undertaking given its commitment to seeing through several other projects it considered to be a high priority.
At the last general election, the topic of zero-hours contracts was something which came up time and time again and is clearly something which a large proportion of the electorate consider to be an important topic. It is therefore right that the States Assembly takes a decision on whether or not it should feature in the work programme of the Social Security Department.
Given the predominance of zero-hours contracts in Jersey compared to other jurisdictions, I believe that the government should treat this issue with more seriousness and accept that there are some changes to the Employment Law which could be made fairly easily which would create a fairer environment for workers who are currently struggling to get by on contracts which offer them no security.
Where injustice exists within our employment legislation, the Minister for Social Security and the Social Security Department should always be working to eradicate it, rather than take a complacent approach.
Whilst it may be the case that none of the employer responses received by the Panel indicated that they used exclusivity clauses, the responses from employees was different, with just under 20% of respondents claiming they were not permitted to work for another employer.
There is no justification for banning workers from taking up alternative options of employment when their zero-hours contract does not provide them certainty for their working hours.
Key Finding 13 – "The Panel cannot see a benefit in the existence of exclusivity clauses. Abolishing such clauses would provide employees with the freedom to choose whether they would like to take on additional hours, thus potentially improving their financial situation, which at the moment for some is restricted."
Ultimately, banning exclusivity clauses is not enough and the Scrutiny Panel makes a series of commendable recommendations which we, as a party, intend to follow up.
Financial and manpower implications
There are no financial or manpower implications other than allocating law drafting time to producing the amended legislation.
APPENDIX 1
Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel: Zero-hour contracts (S.R.3/2016) Pages 33 – 35 – Exclusivity Clauses
APPENDIX 2
Zero-Hour Contracts (S.R.3/2016): response of the Minister for Social Security. (S.R.3/2016 Res.)
Page 25 – R11 Ministerial response on exclusivity clauses