Mrs M M Dunnachie v The Coffee Shop — 2022

Mrs M M Dunnachie had worked for The Coffee Shop since around 2010/2011 as a coffee shop assistant. After furlough in March 2020, the respondent wrote on 28 September 2020 saying that from 1 November 2020 her contract would change to a zero-hours contract and that she would still be employed but with no guaranteed hours. The claimant signed that letter and later accepted limited hours when the business reopened in August and September 2021.

The tribunal identified the central issue as whether the claimant remained an employee after 1 November 2020. Applying the statutory definitions of employee and worker and the common law authorities on employment status, the judge considered the reality of the arrangement, including mutuality of obligation, control, and personal performance. The tribunal found that the respondent was not obliged to offer work and the claimant was not obliged to accept it, and that the short periods of work in 2021 did not establish a regular pattern that displaced the written zero-hours arrangement.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the zero-hours arrangement was a contract for services rather than a contract of employment, so the claimant’s status changed from employee to worker with effect from 1 November 2020. Because she was not an employee at the time of dismissal, the claims for a redundancy payment and notice pay were both dismissed. No monetary award was made.