uk agencies, advertisers mull new employment law

LONDON: UK advertisers and agencies have thrashed out a ‘Voluntary Protocol’ to help manage employment legislation that, in extremis, could require an agency winning a new account to hire staffers who worked primarily on the business at the agency that lost it.

The laws, introduced in April this year and known as Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE), raised widespread concern over the effects on client/agency relationships.

Now, an agreement has been drawn up by members of ISBA and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in an effort to mitigate the effects of the regulations.

The protocol would require the incumbent agency to tell other shops bidding for the account of possible liabilities, including how many people work on the business and their job titles.

When an agency wins a new account, the incumbent agency will give it the names of all staff working on the account, together with details of their salaries.

The protocol, which was discussed at a major industry meeting earlier this week, will be further fine tuned as case law and practice develops.

(via warc)