Casual Workers as employees
by Sarah
The Employment Appeal Tribunal revisited the issue of whether a casual worker could be an employee this week. The Claimant provided bar services at the KC Stadium in Hull through the Respondent Company. He was dismissed following an altercation with another employee without the statutory dismissal procedure being followed. The Claimant presented Claims for unfair dismissal amongst other things.
The Tribunal found that the Claimant did not have an umbrella contract giving him the status of employee when he was not working but that he was an employee during the periods he was actually engaged. The issue was therefore whether he had continuity of employment under s212 of the ERA 1996. The Tribunal said no but the EAT overturned this decision.
The EAT found that there was no global contract as there was no mutual obligations, which would keep the contract alive in between assignments. The EAT then looked at continuity under s212(1) and found that the effect was that if an employee works for whole or part of any week, then that entire week would count for the purposes of continuity of employment. This is irrespective of how many hours are worked. If the casual worker does not work at all in that week the other parts of the continuity provisions need to be considered.
This is not ground breaking law but a good reminder for those out there who hire casual workers, thinking that they are not entering into employment relationships with them. Sometimes there is a common misconception that casual workers who only work part-time cannot be employees. This is of course the wrong approach to take. You can read the Judgment here
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