Mr Miroslaw Skiepko v JBP Foods Ltd — 2025

This was a preliminary hearing held on 12 February 2025 before Employment Judge McCooey to determine whether the claimant was an employee, a worker, or a self-employed contractor for the purposes of establishing tribunal jurisdiction over his claims for unfair dismissal and holiday pay. The respondent's position was that the claimant had been engaged on a self-employed basis from July 2020, a label the claimant had verbally accepted at interview and used himself in his ET1 form. The respondent's director, Mr Zajac, did not attend to give oral evidence, having had an adjournment application refused, so where there was a factual conflict the judge preferred the claimant's oral evidence given under oath.

The Tribunal found that, despite the 'self-employed' label, the practical reality of the working relationship was that of employment. The respondent provided the tools of the role (catalogue, leaflets, scanner, company car with GPS monitoring), set the customers and geographical locations the claimant was required to attend, imposed unwritten 'policies' on commission levels and payment arrangements, and challenged the claimant on his hours and routes. The judge accepted the claimant's evidence that when he sought to assert autonomy on the basis of his purported self-employed status he was forcefully challenged and ultimately threatened with dismissal, and that there was no genuine right of substitution. Factors pointing the other way — responsibility for his own tax, use of an accountant, commission-based variable pay, and his own use of the self-employed label — were considered but were outweighed by the level of control exercised by the respondent.

The Tribunal concluded that by at least the end of 2022 the respondent was exercising a level of control consistent with an employer/employee relationship, and that the claimant was an employee within the meaning of s.230 Employment Rights Act 1996. It followed that he was also a worker. Accordingly the Tribunal has jurisdiction to determine the unfair dismissal and holiday pay claims at the final hearing listed for 15, 16 and 17 October 2025, with a first case management hearing on 22 April 2025.