Mrs S Shepherd v Global DX Ltd — 2025

The tribunal found that Mrs Shepherd was an employee of Global DX Ltd from 1 October 2018 until 6 January 2025. It accepted that she had initially been a nominal director, but held that from October 2018 she carried out substantive administrative work for the business, received salary and payslips, worked fixed hours, took holiday and sick leave in the usual way, and was subject to control. After her husband died in May 2021 and she became sole shareholder and later CEO, the tribunal found that the underlying employment relationship did not change.

In reaching that conclusion, the tribunal applied section 230 Employment Rights Act 1996 and the authorities it cited, including Ready Mixed Concrete, Autoclenz, Clark v Clark Construction Initiatives Ltd, Secretary of State v Neufeld, and Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Karpavicius. It noted that there was no written contract, but found an implied contract because she provided work and skill in return for remuneration and remained in practice an employee, including for tax and National Insurance purposes.

Having found employee status, the tribunal upheld her claims for outstanding salary, holiday pay, notice pay and a redundancy payment. It awarded £867.95 for 22 days' unpaid salary, £1,384.60 for 5 weeks' accrued but untaken holiday, and £1,480.16 for 6 weeks' notice pay. It also found that she was dismissed by reason of redundancy when administrators were appointed on 6 January 2025 and the business ceased to provide work, and awarded a statutory redundancy payment of £2,220.24. The total award was £5,952.95, subject to deductions where stated in the judgment.