Jurisdictional Points – Worker/ Employee or Neither
The claimant, a solicitor, had for many years been a ‘salaried partner’ in the respondent law firm. She raised a number of claims, some of which required her to have been an employee of the firm in order for the Tribunal to have jurisdiction to deal with them. The Tribunal determined after a hearing that she was not an employee, but was a partner. On an appeal by the claimant in which she contended that the Tribunal had erred in approach, held ;- (i) That as the term salaried partner had no meaning in law, the facts and circumstances had to be examined carefully in order to assess the nature of the parties’ relationship and the true agreement between them (ii) that while there was no rule requiring the Tribunal to address the terms of the partnership agreement first (Williamson and Soden v Briars UKEAT/0611/10/DM, [2011] UKEAT 0611 – 10 – 2005), it was permissible to do so and logical in the circumstances of the present case and (iii) that it was not erroneous for the Tribunal to take the partnership agreement as a starting point and then assess all of the adminicles of evidence consistent and inconsistent with the claimant’s position that she was an employee not a partner before reaching a conclusion. Both the approach taken and the conclusion reached were accordingly permissible.
Appeal dismissed.
Citations:
[2018] UKEAT 0018 – 17 – 2908
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.625446