Home workers are continually being denied basic employment rights, according to a new report.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the National Group on Homeworking (NGH) are asking the Government to close a legal loophole that means millions of home workers are unable to rely on basic working rights.

Home workers are not as yet considered to have employee status and as such are not afforded provisions such as a basic national minimum wage.

To illustrate the grievances felt from the loophole, the TUC and the NGH have released details of a recent tribunal case involving a number of home workers.

The case involved a group of nine home workers from Gosport who have spent the past five years fighting for the right to a minimum wage as well as redundancy pay and protection from unfair dismissal.

The women had been working from home trimming rubber for Industrial Rubber Mouldings, a firm that supplies products to a number of organisations including the Department of Transport, Dyson, Pirelli and Raleigh.

After requesting a minimum wage the firm forced them to sign contracts declaring them as self employed.

After airing their grievances to an employment tribunal, they were judged to be self employed and thus not entitled to the same protection against unfair dismissal as employees at a firm. As a result the women lost their jobs.

Beverley Dew, one of the aggrieved women, said: “The law is unfair and unjust. I have been working for this company since 1989 but all this time counts for nothing. The company has penalised me for asking to be paid the national minimum wage.

“It seems crazy that all my rights depend on a contract that I was forced to sign”

With many small businesses employing staff from residential addresses, the case not only highlights the lack of protection for home workers but also similar conditions for the self employed.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, said: “It is totally unacceptable that employers can deprive individuals of their rights simply by inserting dubious clauses into existing contract, especially when workers are strong armed into signing away their rights.

“Unscrupulous employers are increasingly taking advantage of vulnerable groups like home workers, agency workers and freelancers. Only when these individuals are given the same rights as employees will bad bosses no longer be able to exploit on such a widespread scale.”