The Supreme Court this morning upheld the decision of the Employment Tribunal that Gary Smith was a ‘worker’ of Pimlico Plumbers. This means that he was entitled to holiday pay and various other rights, although not the full rights of an employee. The decision had previously been upheld by the EAT and the Court of Appeal. Now the highest court in the land agrees. The decision was based on the fact that Mr Smith had undertaken to personally perform work for Pimlico Plumbers. The only circumstances in which a person working for you is not either an employee or a worker is if the business is the individual's client (ie a solicitor working for you) or the individual's customer (ie he is selling something to your business).
In all other cases, where an individual perform the work for you himself, and can not use someone else to do the work for him, he will be either an employee or a worker and will therefore have certain statutory rights. Employees have the right to bring unfair dismissal claims, which workers do not have, but both employees and workers can bring unlawful discrimination claims against businesses, which can prove very expensive. If you would like help deciding whether individuals are workers or employees, or if you are facing a tribunal claim, I am happy to help.
