Claimant v Mihailescu v Better Lives (UK) Ltd T/a Bluebird Care Ipswich — 2017

The tribunal heard a preliminary issue on employment status only. It found that the claimant signed a contract dated 30 April 2015 which described him throughout as an employee and, on the evidence, reflected the parties' true relationship at the outset. The respondent's case that the claimant became self-employed a few days later was not accepted: there was no documentary record of any change, no self-employed contract, and the tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence that he never agreed to such a change.

The tribunal found that the claimant was sent work on a weekly basis, worked continuously, did not refuse work on the basis of location, and did not use a substitute. It rejected the respondent's reliance on contractual clauses said not to have been enforced as determinative of status. Applying section 230 ERA 1996, mutuality of obligation, Ready Mixed Concrete and Autoclenz, the tribunal held that the claimant was an employee; alternatively, if wrong on that point, he was at least a worker because he undertook to perform the work personally. No findings were made on the rate of pay, Appendix 1, or how the relationship ended, and the substantive claims were left for a later hearing.