How do you tell a casual worker from an employee?

摘要

Our legal helpline recently defended an employment tribunal case that illustrated the potential pitfalls of using casual workers.Like many businesses in the motor trade, our client used casual workers, particularly to collect and deliver vehicles. One such worker sought to argue that he was, in fact, an employee and therefore entitled to bring a claim of unfair dismissal. An "employee" is defined as someone working under a contract of employment, but this is not simply a matter of the label on the contract. In particular, a tribunal will consider whether the worker has agreed to provide their own personal work and skill, whether they are subject to the level of control to be expected of an employment relationship and whether there is mutuality of obligation, i.e. that the business is obliged to provide work, and the casual worker is, in practice, obliged to accept it.