Last week in Gascoigne v Addison Lee an Employment Tribunal decided that a cycle courier was a worker and not self-employed. Following the pattern emerging from other similar cases, the Tribunal was influenced by the claimant’s requirement to provide personal service and also the level of control exercised by Addison Lee over the claimant. Yet again the Tribunal was not convinced by a written contract which stated that the claimant was “self-employed” and was willing to look behind that label.
Keeping in the vein of “gig-economy” cases, there was some positive news for employers with the Supreme Court granting Pimlico Plumbers permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision earlier this year that their plumbers were workers and not self-employed.
Clarification of the law in this area is desperately needed but it remains to be seen whether the Supreme Court will hear Pimlico Plumber’s appeal and deliver a decision before the Government seeks to introduce new legislation in response to the Taylor Report. For a summary of the Taylor Report, please click here.