1. Mrs Bernadette Gallagher 2. Mr David Gallagher v Secretary of State for Business & Trade — 2025

The claimants were founding directors and equal shareholders of Galltan Limited, which entered creditors' voluntary liquidation on 20 December 2024. They claimed payments from the Secretary of State following refusal of their applications, but the tribunal identified employee status under section 230 Employment Rights Act 1996 as the gateway issue. The burden was on the claimants to prove they were employees as well as directors at the relevant time.

The tribunal found there was no written contract of employment and limited evidence about any contractual terms or how the relationship operated in practice. The claimants did not attend the hearing for cross-examination, and the tribunal gave reduced weight to their brief witness statements. There were discrepancies in the evidence about pay and hours, no evidence of supervision, disciplinary or grievance procedures, timesheets, holiday records, or company documents such as board minutes or memoranda supporting an employment contract.

The tribunal accepted that directors and shareholders can also be employees, and that absence of ordinary control may not be fatal in a small family business. However, taking the available evidence as a whole, it was not satisfied that mutuality of obligation, sufficient control, or other relevant indicators of a contract of employment were proved. The tribunal held that the claimants were not employed by Galltan Limited within section 230 ERA 1996 at the relevant time, so their claims for payments by the respondent were not well founded and were dismissed.