Cotswold Developments Construction Ltd v Williams: EAT 21 Dec 2005

EAT What is meant by ‘mutuality of obligations’ where the claim relies on the Working Time Regulations; whether finding that there was no mutuality of obligations was inconsistent with holding that the Claimant was a ‘worker’; whether it is sufficient for claim under the WTR for there to have been a series of separate short-term assignments, as opposed to one over-arching agreement; and what should be the correct approach to deriving the terms of a contract from the performances of it by the parties in the absence of any written or express oral agreement. Unclear ET decision remitted.
The distinction between a limb (b) worker and an independent contractor working on his own account could often be determined by focusing on whether the: ‘putative worker actively markets his services as an independent person to the world in general (a person who will thus have a client or customer) on the one hand, or whether he is recruited by the principal to work for that principal as an integral part of the principal’s operations, will in most cases demonstrate on which side of the line a given person falls’.
‘ . . a focus upon whether the purported worker actively markets his services as an independent person to the world in general (a person who will thus have a client or customer) on the one hand, or whether he is recruited by the principal to work for that principal as an integral part of the principal’s operations, will in most cases demonstrate on which side of the line a given person falls.’
Langstaff J
UKEAT/0457/05, [2005] UKEAT 0457 – 05 – 2112, [2006] IRLR 181
Bailii, EATn
England and Wales
Cited by:
CitedClyde and Co Llp v Van Winkelhof EAT 26-Apr-2012
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS
Worker, employee or neither
Working outside the jurisdiction
Whether LLP equity member was a limb (b) worker under section 230(3). Allowing Claimant’s appeal, she was. . .
CitedClyde and Co LLP and Another v van Winkelhof SC 21-May-2014
Solicitor Firm Member was a Protected Worker
The solicitor appellant had been a member of the firm, a limited liability partnership. She disclosed criminal misbehaviour by a partner in a branch in Africa. On dismissal she sought protection as a whistleblower. This was rejected, it being found . .
CitedMacalinden (T/A Charm Offensive) v Lazarov and Others EAT 17-Oct-2014
macalindenEAT1410
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS – Worker, employees or neither
WORKING TIME REGULATIONS – Worker
NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
The Employment Judge did not approach the question of whether the Claimants were . .
CitedUber Bv and Others v Aslam and Others CA 19-Dec-2018
Uber drivers are workers
The claimant Uber drivers sought the status of workers, allowing them to claim the associated statutory employment benefits. The company now appealed from a finding that they were workers.
Held: The appeal failed (Underhill LJ dissenting) The . .
CitedPimlico Plumbers Ltd and Another v Smith SC 13-Jun-2018
The parties disputed whether Mr Smith had been an employee of or worker with the company so as to bring associated rights into play. The contract required the worker to provide an alternate worker to cover if necessary.
Held: The company’s . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 July 2021; Ref: scu.238268