The claimant asserted unfair dismissal. The company denied that he was an employee. The company now appealed against the decision of the EAT to grant the claimant’s appeal. The claimant had been an employee, but the arrangement had been varied so that it would allow him as a Slovak to live in the UK. In effect he worked through a one man company.
Held: The employer’s appeal failed. The decision of the original tribunal was poorly reasoned and could not stand. The combined effect of the documents must be ascertained by construing their provisions in the context of all the surrounding circumstances. In this case, ‘the absence of an express reference to the form or level of monetary payments to Mr Bachnak in the Terms and Conditions of Fixed Term Employment is not in itself fatal to the existence of a contract of service between EMPEL and Mr Bachnak: the evidence of the parties about the circumstances surrounding the transaction may identify the consideration for the work to be done by Mr Bachnak, either outside the express Terms and Conditions or possibly in some other form than payments of money made direct to Mr Bachnak personally.’
Judges:
Lord Justice May, Lord Justice Mummery Lord Justice Pill
Citations:
[2003] EWCA Civ 1876
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Bachnak v Emerging Markets Partnership (Europe) Ltd EAT 29-Jan-2002
Acceptance that case to go forward to full appeal. It was arguable that: ‘in the way set out its Extended Reasons [the tribunal] misdirected itself in law, in not holding that the terms and conditions of fixed term employment were, on their true . .
Appeal From – Bachnak v Emerging Markets Partnership (Europe) Ltd EAT 25-Mar-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Procedural fairness/automatically unfair dismissal. . .
Cited – Express and Echo Publications Ltd v Tanton EAT 30-Jan-1998
When considering whether an unfair dismissal claimant was an employee, the tribunal should first establish as a fact the terms of the agreement and then consider whether any of the terms were inherently inconsistent with the existence of a contract . .
Cited – Professional Contractors’ Group and Others v Commissioners of Inland Revenue CA 21-Dec-2001
Legislation had been enacted to tax under Schedule E, people employed through one man service companies and similar. Representatives of such taxpayers sought review of the legislation as incompatible with European law being a hindrance to the . .
Cited by:
See Also – Bachnak v Emerging Markets Partnership (Europe) Ltd EAT 27-Jan-2006
EAT The claimant had worked as an adviser for the respondent identifying investment opportunities. He said he had been unfairly dismissed after disclosing that the company had overpaid for an investment. He now . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 12 November 2022; Ref: scu.188897
