Miss J Wheatley v Turner Contemporary Heard by CVP — 2022

Miss J Wheatley brought claims for redundancy pay and notice pay against Turner Contemporary. The notice pay claim had a time limit issue: the tribunal found the limitation date was 13 May 2021 following the end of ACAS conciliation on 13 April 2021, but the claim was submitted on 15 May 2021. The claimant accepted the claim was out of time, did not seek to argue that time should be extended, and agreed to dismissal upon withdrawal, so the tribunal did not determine that claim on the merits.

The redundancy pay claim turned on whether the claimant was an employee. The tribunal found that the written zero-hours documentation did not reflect the reality of the relationship. It held that she had worked as a Navigator from 6 April 2011 in an ongoing arrangement across exhibitions and projects, with work booked in advance, regular availability requests, required training and briefings, line management, and instructions to check her Turner Contemporary email account. The tribunal found there was mutual obligation to honour booked work and to provide some reasonable degree of availability and training.

The tribunal also found the claimant was integrated into the respondent's workforce: she retained a uniform, security pass and staff discount, was named on the website as staff, took part in staff events and consultations, and was paid through payroll. Applying the authorities it cited, including Ready Mixed Concrete, Autoclenz, Cotswold Developments, Hafal and Stringfellows, the tribunal concluded there was a contract of employment throughout the relationship. It held that continuity was preserved in any event under section 212(3)(b) and (c) ERA 1996, including through the gallery closure periods.

On that basis, the tribunal found the claimant had the requisite continuity of service to claim redundancy pay. The respondent had accepted that, if employee status were established, the redundancy payment would be £742.50, and judgment was entered for that amount.