Recently it has been hard to escape reports about employment status and the ‘gig economy’ with companies like Uber, Deliveroo and Addison Lee attracting much attention.
A further case on this point is that of Boxer v Excel. In this case a cycle courier working for Excel successfully claimed that he was a worker, not a self-employed contractor, and was awarded holiday pay of £321. Although the amount awarded was small, the consequences are much larger as Mr Boxer is now claiming that, when Citysprint took over Excel, TUPE should have applied to him, as a worker.
It is generally accepted that the definition of an ‘employee’ under TUPE is wide enough to encompass workers, however there has been no case law specifically on this point. This case will, therefore, be very welcome clarification on the point.
Over the coming weeks Clarkslegal will be running a series of podcasts covering the key aspects of TUPE – make sure you check these out!