In Person For the v Mr P Knowles, Company Secretary — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Balogun to decide whether the tribunal had jurisdiction to hear Mr C Wood's unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction of wages and breach of contract (notice pay) claims against Your Local Plumbing Company Limited by reason of his employment status. The written agreement was an email offering a fixed-term role as an installer and service and breakdown engineer at £225 per day, with hours of 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday and every other Saturday. The tribunal found that the contract did not transfer to Vertent Ltd when payment arrangements changed, and that the claimant's contract continued with the respondent until he resigned on 21 August 2017.

Applying the Ready Mixed Concrete multifactorial test and the statutory definitions in section 230 ERA 1996, the tribunal found that Mr Wood was required to perform the work personally, was subject to a sufficient degree of control, and worked under terms consistent with a contract of service. It relied on findings that he wore branded uniform, attended staff meetings, worked to schedules issued by the respondent, and was subject to performance requirements and possible financial sanctions. The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that he worked only when available or could substitute another person to do the work.

On that basis, the tribunal held that Mr Wood was an employee within section 230(1) and (2) ERA 1996 and that it therefore had jurisdiction to hear all of his claims. In the alternative, it found that he was a worker under section 230(3)(b) ERA 1996 because the respondent was not a client or customer of his own business undertaking and the work was undertaken personally under the respondent's branding and control. The judgment did not determine the underlying merits of any claim and listed the matter for a telephone case management hearing.