EAT allows contractor to appeal against 'worker' rule

An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has allowed an appeal by a contractor against a ruling that a supposedly self-employed carpenter was a worker within the terms of the Working Time Regulations and consequently entitled to holiday pay.
It did so on the grounds that the original tribunal "made no attempt" to explain what factors led to its conclusion that the operative was a worker or why it rejected the contractor's claim that he was in business on his own account.
The case involved Westminster Partitions and Joinery and a carpenter who worked for the company at London's Canary Wharf. The London EAT said both parties had been let down by the decision. It remitted the case back to be heard by a differently constituted Employment Tribunal.
The original tribunal said: "It was our unanimous decision that the applicant fell within the definition of worker for the purposes of the regulations. It is immaterial that he was not employed under a contract of employment."
But the EAT said the terms under which an operative is engaged "are matters that require to be weighed up by the Employment Tribunal".