A Job for all Seasons

In Edinburgh the seasons can sometimes feel like they are merging together – the city has a huge influx of people during the Edinburgh Festival but otherwise the tourism industry keeps chugging along without too many fluctuations, even in the current economic downturn.

The situation differs considerably in rural areas where the seasons can, and do, considerably affect the number of workers needed at any given time. This is particularly true on farms and estates, where the seasons dictate the workload, both in terms of the type of work to be done and the level of manpower required to do it.

It’s important, therefore, to know what employment rights seasonal workers have and what you, if you employ seasonal staff, need to do to protect your business.

Seasonal employees’ rights

Seasonal employees fundamentally have the same employment rights as permanent employees. This means, for example, that they must not be subjected to any form of unlawful discrimination. They are also entitled not to be unfairly dismissed.

Generally speaking, seasonal employees are employed on ‘fixed term’ contracts, which means they are employed for a finite period of time, usually restricted to three to six months at a time. This also means that the employee is unlikely to have the necessary length of service (51 weeks plus one week’s statutory notice) to qualify for bringing a claim of unfair dismissal against his or her former employer. Unlawful discrimination, on the other hand, needs no length of service in order to qualify for bringing a claim.

Worker or employee?

Most of us use the words “worker” and “employee” interchangeably. In employment law terms, however, there is a very important distinction between the two terms.

An employee has a higher level of protection than a worker and it can therefore be important to know whether you have engaged a worker or an employee. For example, in contrast to a worker, an employee is entitled not to be unfairly dismissed.

Establishing whether someone is a worker or an employee can be difficult and further complications can arise where you engage self employed contractors to work for you as well. Certain key factors are more suggestive of one status than the other. For example, performance of the work personally is indicative of an employer/employee relationship, as is a higher level of control by the employer over the working relationship. The key ultimately lies in the wording of the employment contract, to which careful thought should be given.