Mr T Dracass, Counsel For the v Respondent — 2021

At the preliminary hearing on 10 and 11 February 2021, Employment Judge K Andrews considered whether Mr D Haviland was an employee of The Andrew Lownie Literacy Agency Ltd for the purposes of his claims, which included unfair dismissal and wage-related complaints. The tribunal recorded that in May or June 2012 the parties agreed that the claimant would act as an agent for fiction titles on a 10% commission basis. There was no written contract, no basic salary, holiday pay, sick pay or other benefits, and the claimant worked from home, used his own equipment, had no fixed hours and paid his own tax.

Applying section 230 ERA 1996 and the Ready Mixed Concrete approach, the tribunal found mutuality of obligation and personal performance, but not the necessary degree of control. The claimant had complete freedom to decide which submissions to accept. Requests for updates in the early years were treated as reasonable monitoring of progress rather than contractual control, and the tribunal held that public announcements and the claimant’s integration into the business did not establish employee status in the absence of control.

The tribunal therefore held that the claimant was not an employee of the respondent. As a result, he had no entitlement to the statutory minimum notice period, the right not to be unfairly dismissed or the national minimum wage, and the claims were dismissed. No remedy was awarded.