Is it legal for permanent workers to receive a lower rate of pay than temporary workers?

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Sam .	A temp or contractor is at high risk employment. They can be paid off with a short notice period. They have no med insurance paid by the employer no retirement plan, this is some of the things they have to provide for them self. After paying all of this, thier salary will be the same as a permanent worker. Besides that, cost to compony is much lower on a contractor and better tax benefit for the compony Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

MLE	Your employer can pay anyone what they want. You could be getting more than the guy sitting next to you doing the same thing. It is not illegal at all for permanent employees to receive lower pay than temporary employees, they are probably spending about the same amount of money on you if you include all the benefits that you receive that they are not paying for the temp. You have to remember that temp work has to be enticing for someone to take the work, temps aren't hired permanently so they will be looking for work again in a matter of time. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ElectronProbabilityCloud	It's certainly not illegal. As long as your employers are paying you above the legal minimum and you're prepared to work for what they give you, it's nobody elses business. If your firm employs temps from an agency, any comparison between earnings is neither here nor there. The real issue is whether you're happy to do the same work for less than the temps. If not, it's your responsibility to do something about it, nobody elses. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

leysarob	Absolutely legal. We do it here. The reason is this: Temp workers only get their pay. Permanent employees get benefits paid for by the employer. Therefore they are actually getting more, just not as cash in hand -- like insurance, retirement, holiday-vacation-sick pay. Huge difference and worth more than the dollars difference in pay. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

man290663@btinternet.com	This is NORMAL and NOT ILLEGAL. Temporary workers have to work at short notice and have none of the perks or bonuses or pension or holiday pay of permananet and so its natural to compensate them for this with a higher basic pay. the downside to this is that the temporary workers could be unemployed tomorrow without notice and comeback and no income. permanent workers have that protected in law, Its about giving up long term security in return for a short-term pay increase. would you take the risks involved (not able to guarantee income, get a new rented home, get credit etc).? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

bouncer bobtail	Yes. It happens in every industry every day. Every hospital employs agency nurses at a higher rate of pay for example. It is commonplace for computer programmers to resign and be re-employed at a much higher rate of pay as a contract worker doing exactly the same job. There are structural problems with large companies and unions often don't act in the workers interests either. Many large companies have standard rates of pay for specific jobs. This ignores location, difficultly, productivity, etc. So a computer programmer maintaining payroll software in Carlisle would be paid the same as someone working on cutting edge expert systems in London. That is clearly unsustainable. Because unions insist on a national pay structure for nurses, teachers, police etc. The will be a built in shortage of permanent staff in places like London and Oxford, so agency staff can command better wages. Employers may voluntarily enter into binding agreements with trade unions about the use of outside labour. The unions can take civil action in the courts when such agreements are breached. Employers may never discriminate unfairly by age, sex, ethnicity, nationality or disability. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

rwa000	unfair yes, illegal no Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

chasetwins05	Yes it is legal. An explanation of why this happens : the company does not have to pay the temp workers for sick days, holiday pay or any other benefits such as health or life insurance. Technically the company is still paying less for the temp worker in the end however the temp workers only benefit in the matter of money. You benefit by having full benefits that the company offers. The company also saves time ths way - less paper work on the temp employee. When the contract witht he temp agency ends - the employer can choose to keep the employee temp for awhile longer, buy the employee from the temp agency or let the employee go. When a temp employee becomes perm. they lose pay as they will be paid the normal base like every other employee of that company. Another benefit - if there is a lay off... unless there is cause the temp workers go before the perm. ones. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Mel	There is no requirement that employees and temporary workers be paid the same. Companies are permitted to set pay rates pretty much anywhere they like, as long as they don't discriminate against protected classes (for instance, if all of the women make less than men, or all Hispanics are paid less than Whites.) Temp workers are sometimes paid more because they don't typically have health benefits (medical, dental, etc.) like regular employees do. Benefit costs add 25 - 30% on top of an employee's pay rate from the company's standpoint. You are correct in that the temps have a different employer (the temp agency) and it is prudent for the company and the temp agency to avoid knowing too much about one another's businesses so that they can limit their exposure to a legal situation called "co-employment." Hope you win the bet and that your co-workers now owe you a nice lunch at least. :) Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Albertofrog	It is not illeagl to pay one person a different rate from the other as long as it is above the minimum wage. Always bear in mind you have a permanent job, they do not, a few months down the line they could be out of work whilst you are still earining. Also some agencies still pay the holiday pay in with the basic wage therefore they may end up being on a lower rate than you, it is just the fact they are getting their holiday accrual each week instead making it look bigger. If your company has a union and you have concerns then best to raise it with them. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

corgi1922	I doubt it is illegal. Unfair yes, but not illegal. I have heard of staffing agencies dictating what their temps are paid. If a company is in a pinch they may be willing to pay more for a temp on a short term basis. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Jim A	It is unfair, and may leave a bad taste in your mouth, but it is not against the law. The company will pay short term workers more because they have a need to get the job done, and they are willing to pay a premium for immediate help. Long term workers may have lower pay, but they also have the consolation that they have a secure job. The temp workers will have to turn around and get another job, and this next job may pay a lot less than they were making at your company. This is just one of the risks they take working temporary jobs. The temporary workers also receive no benefits from the company. The company you work for does set the rate of pay that they are willing to give the hired help, but they also get charged a fee on top of the wages in order to pay the staffing agency. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Judy	As long as everyone is being paid at least the minimum wage, there are no laws that make it illegal to pay permanent workers less than temporary workers. That isn't even unusual, let alone illegal. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Cari	It's certainly not illegal. An employer can pay anyone whatever they want, provided that they're not discriminating. As an example, if you were paid less than your colleague simply because you're male and she's female, then that's discrimination. However, to pay a permanent employee less than a temporary employee in no way constitutes discrimination. As a general rule, a temp would expect to earn more than a permanent employee. This is because they receive no benefits at all and no sick pay, and also sometimes their holiday pay will be included in their hourly rate as opposed to them accruing that separately. Also, they have no job security - a temp can be dismissed at any time with no notice, and redundancy benefits do not apply. Just to correct you though, the agency does not set the rate of pay for temps. Your employer determines this. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

I_Have_all_the_answers...	You have to take into account the "extra cost" a business has to pay for a permanent employee.. Like vacation, insurance, sick days, personal days, the fact that they can not fire you without having to pay unemployment, severance packages, need I say more.... So actually, they may be paying more per hour for a temp, but they are paying less overall because they don't have to pay any of that other stuff, and also, when they don't need the temp anymore, they just tell them not to come in the next day and not have to worry about severance and unemployment.. Does that make sence? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Starshine	Yes, it is very common for temp workers to make more than full-time permanent because they don't have the same benefits, only salary and are open to be displaced at any time. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No