Mr N Jeffery v Singh & Donaldson Ltd — 2020

Mr Jeffery brought claims arising from work he said he carried out as a delivery driver for Singh & Donaldson Ltd between 15 November 2017 and 9 January 2019. The tribunal recorded that the respondent said he had been helping on a voluntary basis and was not owed money. The claimant relied in part on a text message from Mrs Singh referring to a “new job” and a “package”, but the tribunal found the message was sent in the context of their personal relationship and that the “package” referred to a DPD parcel for the claimant to collect.

The tribunal found that the respondent’s business was in financial difficulty and that Mrs Singh and Mrs Jones gave evidence that the claimant was helping the business because it could not afford to replace the driver. The tribunal accepted that the claimant did not complete a new starter form, was not given a contract of employment, and did not work under the normal delivery-driver hours. It also found that he did not seek payment while the work was being done, and that the respondent’s offer of a holiday was a gesture of thanks rather than remuneration.

On that evidence, the tribunal concluded there was no contract for the delivery-driving work and therefore the claimant was not a worker for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The unlawful deduction from wages claim therefore failed. The breach of contract claim also failed for the same reason, because the tribunal found there was no contractual obligation to pay the claimant for the work.

The unfair dismissal complaint was dismissed at the start of the hearing because the claimant accepted he had less than two years’ service, so he did not meet the qualifying period under section 108 ERA 1996. No remedy was awarded.