Mr. Salim Khan v Product Madness (UK) Limited and 1 other — 2024

At the 30 January 2024 preliminary hearing, the tribunal was asked to decide the correct respondent and whether Mr Khan was an employee or worker for the contract and wages claims, including breach of contract, wrongful dismissal, unlawful deductions, holiday pay and the section 1 written particulars claim. The judge said the hearing was not listed to determine any Equality Act preliminary issue, and expressly noted that the race and religion complaints were not being decided at this stage.

The tribunal accepted evidence that Product Madness used agencies for contingent workers and that Experis sourced the claimant for a temporary Accounts Payable Analyst role. The first proposed February 2023 start was cancelled when the cover employee returned, and when the role re-emerged in April 2023 the intended arrangement was that Mr Khan would be onboarded through Giant, an umbrella company, with Experis or Giant paying him rather than Product Madness. The judge found no contract, verbal or written, between Mr Khan and either respondent in April 2023, no intention to create legal relations, no offer or acceptance, and no agency-worker status because no contract was formalised with a temporary work agency.

The tribunal therefore held that Mr Khan was not an employee or worker of Product Madness in February/March 2023 or April 2023, and not an employee or worker of Experis at the relevant time either. On that basis the complaints for notice pay, unlawful deductions and arrears of pay, the breach of contract issues, the wrongful dismissal issue, holiday pay, and the section 1 written particulars claim were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The judge also observed that the factual findings might have implications for the separate Equality Act complaints, but those complaints were not determined in this decision.