Mr H Kellermann v Pets Abroad UK Ltd — 2024

The claimant began work for Pets Abroad UK Ltd on 21 January 2020 as a pet travel driver. The tribunal found that there was no written contract until 1 February 2022, when the claimant signed a contract of employment. Before that date, he was paid on invoice, was responsible for his own tax and national insurance, and did not receive holiday pay or sick pay.

Applying the authorities on employee status, including Ready Mixed Concrete, mutuality of obligation, control, and the Autoclenz/Uber approach to the true agreement, the tribunal found that there was sufficient control when the claimant accepted a job, but that mutuality of obligation was absent before February 2022. The tribunal accepted Mrs Cirone's evidence that the claimant could choose whether to accept work, and that the respondent was not obliged to offer him work. It relied in part on WhatsApp messages showing the respondent asking whether the claimant and his mother were available, and the pair allocating work between themselves.

The tribunal also accepted that the claimant had asked in January 2022 about "coming on to the books" because he could not sustain himself on less than £1,000 a month as a full-time driver, and treated that as consistent with the pre-2022 arrangement being temporary rather than employment. It found that the later written contract changed the terms from February 2022, but could not alter the reality of the earlier relationship. The claim for unfair dismissal was therefore dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, and the tribunal made no findings about the reasons for the dismissal itself.