Mrs Emma White v Skyes Cleaning Group Limited — 2024

Mrs Emma White started work for Skyes Cleaning Group Limited on 4 October 2023 and later moved from a Compliance Officer role into an Accounts Manager role from about 25 October 2023. Although the contract was headed self-employed, it described her as a casual worker, there was no substitute clause, and the tribunal found that she was required to perform the work personally. Applying the worker definition and the limb (b) analysis, with reference to Byrne Brothers Ltd v Baird & others, the tribunal held that she was a worker and that the company was not acting as her client or customer on the relevant days.

That status meant the respondent had to pay her for work done and to comply with the Working Time Regulations 1998. The tribunal found that the respondent deducted £45 from her final invoice without a contractual or statutory basis, so that sum was awarded as unlawful deduction from wages. It also found that she was entitled to one month of accrued holiday pay, calculated from a weekly figure of £240, producing an award of £112.

The tribunal further found that the respondent had failed to provide a compliant written statement of particulars of employment. It awarded compensation of £480 for that failure, using two weeks' pay at £240 per week. The total award was £637. The judgment records that the earlier oral figure of £397 was corrected under Rule 69 because it had only allowed for one week's pay on the statement claim, and it also applied the guidance in Walters t/a Rosewood v Barik to treat the £45 and £112 awards as gross amounts.