Firms getting around exclusivity clauses


Firms keen to distance themselves from controversial zero-hours contracts are tying staff to deals which carry many of the same problems and potential abuses, an investigation has found.


Documents seen by Huffington Post website suggest companies are able to exploit loopholes in the law to sidestep a 2015 ban on exclusivity clauses that stop staff working for other firms. And they show how so-called “short hours” contracts enable employers to demand staff to be at their “beck and call”.


The contracts have sparked condemnation from unions, with outsourced security staff at the University of London (UoL) going on strike over their use.


One such contract, used by security outsourcing firm Cordant Group at UoL tells employees:


• they will have a minimum of 336 hours of work a year;


• they must always be available to work at short notice;


• they must be available to work at any location in the UK with "reasonable notice"; and


• hours can be allocated randomly throughout the year meaning there may be “periods when no work is allocated”.


Unions, a policy expert and an employment lawyer have said such contracts don’t differ materially from zero-hours deals but that, crucially, they circumvent current government rules.


www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/zero-hours-and-short-hours-contracts_uk_59021d50e4b0026db1df4159