Employment Status
Friday 2nd February 2018
2017 saw the cases of Pimlico Plumbers v Smith and Uber BV and others v Aslam and others establish that individuals treated as self-employed were in fact ‘workers’ and consequently entitled to additional (and backdated) rights and protections. Both Pimlico Plumbers and Uber have appealed against those decisions, Pimlico Plumber’s appeal to be heard in the Supreme Court in February and Uber’s appeal to be heard in the Court of Appeal later in 2018. Both appeals will likely have far-reaching implications for the operation of the ‘gig economy’ and we will report and provide analysis on the judgments in both cases when published.
On 20 November 2017 the House of Commons Work and Pension and BEIS Select Committees published a report with accompanying draft legislation in response to the July 2017 ‘Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices’, which itself recommended that greater clarity should be given as to who is categorised as a ‘worker’ and who is genuinely self-employed. The government is yet to officially respond and it remains to be seen whether it will legislate on the issue in 2018.
