Equal treatment of temporary agency workers, by country
Agency work is regulated from three angles in the ingested statutes: whether the worker must be paid like the host's own staff, who may lawfully lend workers out, and after how long the worker gains stronger rights. Norway is the most complete, requiring the agency to secure the host's hours, breaks, holiday and pay terms and giving a right to permanent employment after three continuous years. The federal Canadian code bars an agency from paying less than the client pays for substantially the same work, whereas Australia's protected rate applies only after a labour hire order is made, and Japan's statute here goes no further than the minimum wage of the host's region. Spain limits who may supply workers and the Netherlands sets a 26-week threshold.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | Equal pay or conditions with host staff | Who may supply agency workers | Time threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Protected rate of pay (the host's instrument rate), but only where a regulated labour hire arrangement order is in force | ||
| Canada | Agency may not pay less than the rate the client pays its own employee for substantially the same work; exceptions for seniority, merit or production | Agency may not charge the client a fee for hiring the worker if the first assignment began more than six months earlier | |
| Spain | Only through duly authorised temporary-work agencies | ||
| Japan | Minimum wage only: the regional minimum of the host's workplace applies to a dispatched worker | ||
| Netherlands | Chain-contract rules apply only after 26 weeks of work; a collective agreement can extend this to 78 weeks | ||
| Norway | Agency must secure at least the host's terms on hours, overtime, breaks, night work, holidays, pay and expenses; same access to shared benefits | Allowed only to the extent temporary employment is allowed (or by agreement with a collective-agreement union) | Right to permanent employment with the host after more than three years of continuous hire |
Country by country
Australia
- Rule
- Fair Work Act 2009 s 306F
- The duty falls on the employer (the labour hire provider), and depends on the Fair Work Commission having made an order covering the host.
- Exceptions apply where the host gave incorrect pay information that the employer reasonably relied on.
This section applies if a regulated labour hire arrangement order is in forceThe employer must pay the regulated employee at no less than the protected rate of pay Canada
- Rule
- Canada Labour Code ss 203.1 and 203.2
- Federal sector only (Canada Labour Code). The provisions speak of an employer that assigns its employees to a client, and the section on equal treatment also bars a client from cutting its own employee's wages to let the employer comply.
- Equal treatment requires the same industrial establishment, similar skill, effort and responsibility, and similar working conditions.
An employer is prohibited from paying an employee a rate of wages that is less than the rate the client pays to its employeethey perform substantially the same kind of work(a) seniority; (b) merit charging a fee to its employee for assigning or attempting to assign him or her to perform work for a clientcharging a fee to a client for establishing an employment relationship with an employee if the day on which the employee’s first assignment with the client started is more than six months before Spain
- Rule
- Estatuto de los Trabajadores art. 43
- Unlawful supply makes both the lending and the receiving employer jointly liable, and the worker may choose permanent status with either.
- The ingested Estatuto does not state an equal-pay rule for agency workers; that sits in the temporary-work-agency law, which is not ingested.
solo podrá efectuarse a través de empresas de trabajo temporal debidamente autorizadasresponderán solidariamente de las obligaciones contraídas con los trabajadores y con la Seguridad Socialtendrán derecho a adquirir la condición de fijos, a su elección, en la empresa cedente o cesionaria Japan
- Rule
- 最低賃金法 第13条
- This is the only agency-worker rule in the ingested Japanese acts; the Worker Dispatch Act, which would hold any equal-treatment rule, is not ingested.
- The special minimum wage for an industry is dealt with separately in article 18.
第四十四条第一項に規定する派遣中の労働者の事業場の所在地を含む地域について決定された地域別最低賃金において定める最低賃金額により第四条の規定を適用する Netherlands
- Rule
- BW Boek 7 art. 690 and 691
- Applies to the agency contract (uitzendovereenkomst). Earlier periods separated by no more than six months are counted together.
- The ingested Book 7 does not state an equal-pay rule for agency workers.
De uitzendovereenkomst is de arbeidsovereenkomst waarbij de werknemer door de werkgever Op de uitzendovereenkomst is artikel 668a eerst van toepassing zodra de werknemer in meer dan 26 weken arbeid heeft verricht.kunnen de termijnen, bedoeld in de leden 1, 3 en 7, worden verlengd tot ten hoogste 78 wekenperioden waarin arbeid wordt verricht die elkaar opvolgen met tussenpozen van ten hoogste zes maanden Norway
- Rule
- Arbeidsmiljøloven §§ 14-12 and 14-12 a
- The ministry may allow collective agreements to depart from the equal-treatment rule, but general worker protection must still be respected.
- The three-year right applies to hire under § 14-12 and absence is not deducted when counting.
Bemanningsforetaket skal sørge for at utleid arbeidstaker minst sikres de vilkår som ville kommet til anvendelse dersom arbeidstaker hadde vært ansatt hos innleier for å utføre samme arbeidlønn og utgiftsdekningskal ha samme tilgang til felles goder og tjenester hos innleier som virksomhetens egne arbeidstakere er tillatt i samme utstrekning som det kan avtales midlertidig ansettelseArbeidstaker som har vært sammenhengende innleid etter denne paragraf i mer enn tre år, har rett til fast ansettelse hos innleier Countries not in this table yet
Germany, France, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States are left out: the ingested acts for those countries do not state an equal-treatment rule for agency workers (the German AÜG, Austrian AÜG, French Code du travail Part L1251 and the Swedish staffing act are not ingested; the UK section found only defines an agency worker).
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
Use this data
The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit LawAsked and link to this page. Quoted statute text stays under the terms of its official source.
How to cite this page
LawAsked, “Equal treatment of temporary agency workers, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/agency-workers-rights (reviewed October 25, 2026).
Important Legal Disclaimer
General legal information, not formal legal advice. The information provided on LawAsked does not constitute formal legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. If you require legal assistance, please consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.