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Cable: no loopholes in zero hours exclusivity ban

Posted at August 26, 2014 | By : | Categories : News | Comments Off on Cable: no loopholes in zero hours exclusivity ban

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is calling on business, unions and individuals to help identify and close potential loopholes in plans to ban the use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts.

Exclusivity clauses prevent workers on zero hours contracts from taking work elsewhere, even when their employer provides no work, and the Government wants to find out whether employers may attempt to circumvent the proposed ban on such clauses. They may try to do this by offering contracts which could, for example, guarantee just one hour of work.

A consultation launched today is seeking views on the best method to prevent this from happening. It also proposes options, such as civil penalties, that workers could use to seek justice if they are treated unfairly by their employer because they found work elsewhere while on a zero hours contract.

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