ACS has responded to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) consultation on how to prevent avoidance of the exclusivity clause ban in zero-hours contracts.
The government’s Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill recently introduced a provision to ban the use of exclusivity clauses. An exclusivity clause in a zero hours contract is when the employer prevents the individual from working for someone else, even though they themselves do not guarantee any hours of work.
ACS welcomed the ban of exclusivity clause and has committed to work with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on how employment contracts can be improved to support employers to clarify the correct use of zero-hour contracts. ACS outlined that the use of zero-hour contracts is very low in the retail sector, especially in convenience stores, and that these types of contracts are primarily used for sickness and holiday cover, or for seasonal staff members.
The full submission is available on the ACS website here: http://www.acs.org.uk/download/zero-hours-employment-contracts-banning-exclusivity-clauses-tackling-avoidance/
