Mr J Nash v Purple Dog Company.com Ltd — 2023

Mr Nash brought claims for unfair dismissal, breach of contract, unlawful deduction from wages and holiday pay against Purple Dog Company.com Ltd. The tribunal held that before 1 May 2022 he was not an employee or worker of the respondent, but a self-employed contractor. That conclusion was driven by the evidence as a whole, including the South Africa invoice, which the tribunal regarded as strongly suggestive of contractor work, and the absence of evidence of control, mutual obligations, fixed hours, or any written assertion by Mr Nash that he was an employee or worker.

Because he was not an employee before 1 May 2022, the unfair dismissal claim failed. The tribunal also rejected the notice pay claim. It found that after the meeting on 7 October 2022, Mr Nash's letter of 8 October 2022 headed 'Terminating our commercial relationship' showed that he wanted to end the relationship, and that he then did no further work for the respondent. On that basis, the tribunal found that he had resigned without giving notice, so no contractual notice payment was due.

On wages, the tribunal preferred Mr Phillips' evidence that Mr Nash worked around 12 to 16 hours per week from May 2022, rather than the claimant's case that he worked 50 hours per week. It found there was no documentary record supporting the higher figure and that the claimant's pay of £1,000 per month equated to more than the national minimum wage for the hours accepted by the tribunal. The unlawful deduction from wages claim therefore failed.

The holiday pay claim succeeded only in part. The tribunal held that Mr Nash was entitled to accrued but untaken annual leave for the period when he was an employee, namely 1 May 2022 to 8 October 2022, but not for the earlier period when he was not a worker. It calculated the amount due under regulation 14(2)(b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 as £566.49 gross and did not order any separate award on the other claims.