In person For the v Respondent — 2022

Miss H Jones had worked for Open Age as a tutor from 4 October 2007 under term-by-term purchase orders and a tutor service level agreement. She brought claims including unfair dismissal, protected disclosure detriment, sex discrimination and harassment, breach of contract for notice pay, and redundancy pay after her engagement ended on 2 April 2019. This hearing determined preliminary issues of employment status and jurisdiction.

The tribunal found that Open Age was not obliged to offer work and the claimant was not obliged to accept it, and that this reflected the reality of the relationship. It accepted that the claimant was subject to some control over practical aspects of classes and had some integration into the organisation, but it found that she invoiced monthly, paid her own tax and national insurance, could work elsewhere, and was not subject to a contract of employment. The substitution clause in the written contract did not reflect the reality because replacement tutors were engaged and paid directly by Open Age rather than by the claimant.

The tribunal held that the claimant was a worker within s.230(3)(b) Employment Rights Act 1996 and was employed under a contract personally to do work for the purposes of s.83(2)(a) Equality Act 2010. It therefore found that the claims for unfair dismissal, redundancy payment and breach of contract were outside its jurisdiction and were struck out; the reasons also state that those claims were dismissed. The protected disclosure detriment claim and the sex discrimination and harassment claims were not determined in this judgment and continued.