JAMIE Macfarlane was told he was no longer wanted at BMW’s Cowley plant just two days before he finished.

Technically, the weekend worker was given a week’s notice that Friday in January when he was “demanned”, as it was called, but when he left the car factory he got no redundancy pay.

In fact Mr Macfarlane, who wad worked at Cowley for 20 months, was docked £980 pay back for hours he owed BMW as part of his working time account, accrued over the Christmas shutdown.

But if the father-of-one, who as another child on the way, had been an agency worker at BMW’s Leipzig plant in Germany, the story would have been different.

Jamie, 28, could not have been dismissed without a 90-day consultation period. His agency would have been required to give him four weeks’ notice and negotiate over redundancy pay.

The sacking of 850 agency workers by BMW, with just a week’s notice, on Monday underlined the differences between BMW’s English and German workforces.

Some of the Cowley workers may have some rights to redundancy but they are a matter of legal argument, depending on their length of service.

Duncan Bain, associate solicitor at Botley-based Morgan Cole, said: “If an agency employee in the UK has been continuously employed for two years, then they can claim redundancy if they are laid off for four weeks continuously, and could take the company to an employment tribunal if necessary.

“But the law surrounding lay-offs is such that there are lots of devices that can be used to string it out. The position isn’t certain and none of these employees know where they stand. In Germany, they’re treated the same way as other full-time employees, which means a minimum period of notice, consultation and redundancy payments.”

European legislation known as the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, which would offer them the same rights as full-time colleagues, was first proposed in 2002 but has been repeatedly delayed. It could become law this year.

Mr Macfarlane, who lives in Cowley, said: “I had no idea the situation was different in Germany.

“I heard the law may be changing but it’s too little, too late.”

Right4staff confirmed Mini plant agency workers are on a “zero hours contract”, so they are only paid for the hours they work, although they are entitled to sick pay, holidays and maternity or paternity pay.

Spokesman Judith Thompson added: “These people are not officially being made redundant, as they are still on our books.

“What’s unusual about this situation is that they worked for BMW for such a long time. The average temporary worker might do a week here and a week there.”

l UK car production slumped again last month. A total of 61,404 cars were made in January – 58.7 per cent fewer than a year earlier, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

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