Jobcentres
are avoiding giving workers full employment rights by sacking them a week
before they qualify, it is claimed.
According
to reports in the Guardian newspaper, David Anderson, chief executive of the
Jobcentre Plus agency, admitted in a letter to a Labour MP that more than 400
staff had lost their jobs last year just days before qualifying for pensions
and holiday entitlement.
Just
three months earlier, he told MPs such treatment would be "appalling"
and told the Commons work and pensions committee that he was not aware of the
practice.
But
Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, claims Anderson admits he was wrong
in a letter.
The
letter supposedly said Jobcentre Plus terminated the contracts of 5,269
temporary staff last year – 433 of these in the week before the staff member
would qualify for employment rights.
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Dismore
said Jobcentres are setting a very bad example to other employers.