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The 18-month 'clock', which applies to all contingent workers at GSK, will begin on 1 August regardless of whether the freelancers' agencies survived the May supplier cull or not.
Shout99.com broke the news back in May of how IT freelancers working for GSK would undergo undisclosed rates cuts if they renewed their contracts with any of the 24 agencies that won contracts at a February auction that saw off 475 of GSK's other suppliers.
A question and answer form issued by GSK and forwarded to freelancers by their agencies, said: 'The purpose of the policy is to ensure that GSK benefits from a well-defined, well-managed and effective use of its contingent workers.'
The pharmaceutical giant appeared to be offering freelancers permanent positions if they wanted to continue working for the company after the clock had run out.
'You may apply for externally posted positions within GSK. Even if you have been assigned to GSK for 18 months you may subsequently obtain a permanent position with GSK,' the form said.
GSK denied the 18-month limit would mean those freelancers it had already hired would work for the full 18-month period.
It added: 'The term limit guidelines are not intended to establish a guarantee of 18 months' work for the contingent worker. It represents the maximum length of continuous time the company will allow a contingent worker to be assigned to GSK.'
Chris Miles, Account Manager of Resource Solutions at Certes, one of the agencies that did not make GSK's shortlist of preferred suppliers earlier this year, said in an email circular to its own freelancers: "At the moment we are still in negotiations with GSK about the transition and have not come to any satisfactory agreement. We are working to find an agreement to the situation and have asked if there are other possible solutions other than transition (such as dropping our margin) but that has proved unacceptable to GSK so far.
"They have confirmed that if a transfer is agreed to the new agencies all freelancers would be offered the new rate devised from the new rate card that resulted from the online auction that was held back in March."
A freelance IT reader recently asked whether GSK's policy of not engaging freelancers via agencies for a period in excess of 18 months could be quelled by giving those freelancers holiday pay and redundancy on Shout99.com's 'Ask an Expert' service.
Barry Roback, Chief Executive of the JSA Group, replied: "GSK appears to be acting with caution rather than for any legal reason. Although there is much talk of employment rights for contract workers, as yet none exist.
"As for employment risk under IR35, this can apply no matter how long the contract is and the 18 month rule that GSK appears to be implementing can only be based on compromise (in their estimation). Similarly, the six month pause is not based on any existing legislation."
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Richard Powell, © Shout99.com 2002
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