The status of workers in the ‘gig’ economy has been thrown back into the spotlight, following a ruling that a courier with logistics firm City Sprint should be classed as a worker rather than self-employed.
The BBC reported late last week a tribunal classed Maggie Dewhurst, the courier in question, as a worker, and therefore should be entitled to basic rights including holiday and sick pay, and the National Living Wage.
City Sprint said it was “disappointed” at the ruling and will review it “in detail”.
Dewhurst’s case is the first of four legal challenges being taken against courier companies, including Addison Lee, Excel and E-Courier.
The case follows a landmark ruling last October against the taxi-hailing service Uber in October last year, which found that drivers should be classed as workers rather than self-employed. Umber also intends to appeal.
Commenting on the ruling, Dave Chaplin, CEO and founder of Contractor Calculator, a website that provides advice and information for contractors and freelancers, said: “The judgement was similar to the recent Uber case, where the judge considered that the contractual arrangements did not reflect the reality of the situation. In this instance the contract was described as ‘contorted’, ‘indecipherable’ and ‘window-dressing’.
“The judge used the same words to describe some of the contractual clauses in the City Sprint case to the 2008 IR35 case Alternative Book Company IR35 vs. HMRC, namely that they were ‘window dressing’.
“With the new public sector reforms to IR35 coming in April contractors and their clients must ensure that the working practices align with their contracts and cannot be deemed as employed for tax purposes.”
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Article sourced from recruiter.co.uk