In a recent landmark court ruling, thousands of “Bolt” drivers, who had submitted legal claims to be recognised as workers as opposed to self-employed, were found by the Employment Tribunal to indeed be workers.
Bolt’s model is based on the use of a “private hire hailing app” which connects drivers registered on the app to customers wanting taxi services, who can log into the app and “hail a ride”.
It was found that, whilst these drivers were held out as being self-employed and therefore treated by Bolt as such, the reality of the arrangement was that they were in fact workers and, with that, therefore entitled to National Minimum Wage (NMW) and holiday pay, which they hadn’t been getting!
For Bolt, this is significant as it will entitle each of the 15,000 drivers who made a claim to backdated NMW and holiday pay to the tune of c. £200m!
This makes the legal position on the gig economy/use of self-employed status even clearer; that the law will take a dim view of organisations seeking to portray workers as independent contractors running their own businesses to try and reduce overheads that would otherwise be incurred by engaging these workers properly.
This has been a big case that potentially affects circa 100,000 drivers but the Tribunals will not restrict their findings to only large organisations and high-profile cases.
Employers often:
There are a number of contractual and practical factors which move freelancers/consultants into worker or employee status costing employers thousands in potential claims and penalties. We offer a free audit of your freelancer, worker and employee statuses and we can help reduce the risks.
The issue of employment status is one that you should all be aware of, whatever the size and type of your business, and we often find ourselves looking at this issue very carefully with clients who engage self-employed contractors or “freelancers” to make sure that our clients have got the employment status test right and are doing things properly.
It is really easy to get this wrong, especially as the tide is turning on this issue and it is becoming much more front of stage. If you do get it wrong, you could find your business challenged in much the same way as Bolt, albeit on a smaller scale, with backdated eligibly for NMW and holiday pay too, as well as possible penalties and wider claims as a worker or even an employee
If this is something you are concerned about, give us a call, particularly if you do engage freelance or self-employed contractors - we offer a free audit.
We can help with an audit of your organisation structure and business model to ensure that you are fully aware of the right employment status of those individuals you are engaging, reducing that claims and liability risk and helping you to plan and structure your business in the right way that works for you and stays on the right side of the law.
Contact the team on enquiries@bridgeehr.co.uk or call us on 01904 360295