The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed the appeal by Pimlico Plumbers in its landmark gig economy case.
The highest court in the land decided that the tribunal was entitled to conclude that Mr Smith (the plumber in the legal action) qualified as a ‘worker’ under s.230(3)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (and by analogy the relevant provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the Equality Act 2010).
This is despite Mr Smith paying self-employed tax and being VAT registered. Today’s ruling means that an employment tribunal can now proceed to examine the plumbers action against Pimlico Plumbers as a worker, including a claim that he was unfairly dismissed.
The judgment is expected to influence the outcome of long-running gig-economy cases, including those with Uber and Addison Lee, which involve a battle over employment status.
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Judgment has been handed down this morning in Pimlico
Plumbers Ltd and another v Smith. More details athttps://t.co/iSAAZzKOux— UK Supreme Court (@UKSupremeCourt) June 13, 2018
What does the decision mean? Good thread here:
So, what does the decision mean? Important reminder that often it’s not the law itself that causes confusion, but rather incomprehensible and contradictory layers of contractual drafting with contradictory objectives (see e.g. para [16]) pic.twitter.com/1tKe6ijAFj
— Jeremias Prassl (@JeremiasPrassl) June 13, 2018
“This decision is not necessarily a win for “gig economy” workers seeking to challenge their employment status.” Pimlico’s plumbers do not operate a gig model and the implications for Uber, City Sprint, Deliveroo etc may be limited, although the publicity around this case may encourage other “self employed” contractors to challenge their legal status,” says Alan Lewis, Partner at Irwin Mitchell.
However, ‘there may be legislative changes to come, which could change everything …’
ALSO, it’s worth noting that there’s lots of gov’t / parl’y interest in this. Two select committee reports & the Taylor review, on the back of which gov’t has commenced consultation. So there may be legislative changes to come, which could change everything… (10/10)
— Tim Goodwin (@timothygoodwin) June 13, 2018
Or a tsunami of claims, says Charlie Mullins OBE, CEO of Pimlico Plumbers Ltd:
Supreme Court failure to drag employment law into 21st century will lead to a ‘tsunami of claims’! #SupremeCourt #emplaw https://t.co/jEhCSQgixg pic.twitter.com/LFUbITI4ZV
— Charlie Mullins OBE (@PimlicoPlumbers) June 13, 2018
What do you think of the ruling? Please drop us a line here or in the comments below.