Legal firms will not feel 'massive' impact from EU directive

26/09/2008

The new EU Agency Worker's Directives will not have a "massive" impact on legal firms, according to Legal Week.

Alex Novarese, editor of Legal Week, said the only temporary staff legal firms relied on were paralegals and executives so there would not be a noticeable change in the way legal companies recruit new employees.

The new Agency Workers directive requires that agency workers will be given equal pay and holiday entitlements after 12 weeks in a job.

However, the agreement will not cover sick pay or pension payments and temporary staff will have to work the same length of time as full-time workers to get paid maternity leave.

Mr Novarese went on to say that legal firms only require temporary staff when they experience an increased workload in the short-term.

"They use people when they have litigation cases, which can be a big case and they have to draft a lot of paperwork short-term," he added.

According to the international law firm Eversheds, 64 per cent of UK employers believe they will cut down their reliance on agency workers once the new directive comes into place.

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