Mr J Lister v Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club — 2022

At a preliminary hearing on 24 May 2022, Employment Judge Martin considered whether Mr J Lister was an employee of Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club Ltd for the purpose of his unfair dismissal claim. The tribunal reviewed three identical Terms of Engagement documents for Matchday and Event Safety Stewards. Those documents described the arrangement as casual work, said the Club had no obligation to provide work or a minimum level of work, treated each accepted offer as a separate assignment, and stated that there would be no mutuality of obligation between assignments.

The tribunal also considered the claimant’s email invitations to work and the earnings schedule showing payments during the engagement. It found that the emails matched the contractual terms because work was offered on a flexible basis and could be accepted or declined. The claimant said he worked a lot over about three years and never refused work, but the tribunal held that this did not by itself establish employee status.

The tribunal found that the claimant was a worker and not an employee. It said there was no reason to go behind the express terms of the engagement documents, that the reality of the working relationship reflected those contractual terms, and that without mutuality of obligation there could not be an employment contract. It referred to the right not to be unfairly dismissed under s.94 ERA 1996 as a right available only to employees.

Because the claimant was not an employee, the tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal claim. The claim was therefore struck out for lack of jurisdiction. The written reasons were corrected on 16 June 2022.