A Dutch staffing platform has been criticised for telling its hospitality clients they can avoid new fair tipping laws and a forthcoming ban on zero-hours contractors by using its freelance workforce, reports The Guardian. Temper Works, which supplies workers to more than 5,000 companies, including Hard Rock Cafe, Alexandra Palace and Claridge’s, is promoting its workforce to restaurants, hotels and bars on the basis that “they are not covered by the provisions of the new [tipping] legislation”.

The firm, which opened an office in the UK in 2022, warns companies that agency workers “must now be included in tip-sharing schemes” but claims gig economy workers sourced through its website fall outside the legislation. “By engaging freelancers through Temper, businesses can continue to access flexible labour without the added costs and complexities associated with tip allocation for agency workers,” it states in a briefing published last month.

Under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act, which came into force last month, firms must share all tips between workers, including temporary agency staff. The legislation was prompted by a public outcry over high street chains deducting money intended for waiting and kitchen staff.

The Unite union, which campaigned for the new tipping rules, said it was potentially unlawful to exclude gig workers from tips shares as the courts would probably find they were not genuinely self-employed. “For Temper Works to be so flagrantly advertising services which seek to flout new and well-established employment law to line their own pockets isn’t just morally reprehensible, it is almost certainly illegal,” said Bryan Simpson, Unite lead organiser in the hospitality sector.

Temper Works is also advising firms to use its 60,000-strong pool of freelancers to get around a proposal to ban zero-hours contracts, which is a key plank in Labour’s new worker’s rights legislation. Under Labour’s forthcoming employment rights bill, agency workers on zero-hours contracts will have the right after 12 weeks to a contract with guaranteed hours.

Founded in 2015, Temper Works is managed by ex-McKinsey consultant Maarten Zoomers. The company’s mission statement states “Through technology, we aim to bring about positive change by harnessing the full potential of the digital world to create a more inclusive and equitable job market”.

Temper Works said it did not recognise the “strong claims” made by Unite. “Temper is a platform that has always operated, and will continue to operate, transparently and according to UK law,” it said in a statement. It said a Dutch court had found it was a platform for work, not an employment agency.

It added that the functions built into the platform, including the ability to appoint substitutes to perform work, negotiate hourly rates and turn down work, ensured it was “a marketplace for independent contractors”. Temper said independent contractors sat outside of the tipping legislation, but clients were free to “allocate tips to contractors on Temper if they wish to do so”.