Plumber wins employment rights

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

The judgement did include excerpts from his contract which has stuff about him having to indemnify PP against tax claims, so if Hector came sniffing, then Pimlico Plumbers could try and sue the daft chap.

If he has employment rights, then it's a strong possibility that clause won't be enforceable.

[SueEllen]

That "business" could equally be the plumber's Ltd Co. Which do you think they'll actually go after, the gobby litigation-happy multi-millionaire, or the bloke who's been using a Ltd for the purposes of paying as little tax as possible, and has just admitted in court that he was really an employee all along? Factor in all the other Pimlico Plumbers in the same situation, and Hector will be shooting fish in a barrel for months.

The gobby one to use as an example. The mistake he's made is not being a billionaire.

[centurian]

On a personal level the result of this case makes me feel sad. I agree with one of TCP's comments earlier, that this guys wants to have his cake and eat it. I'm sure both parties knew full well they were agreeing to it being self employed, and both enjoyed the perks of that for years. Then one of them had a change in personal circumstances, and suddenly wants the whole contract seen in a different light. To my mind being complicit with it being customer/suppler for years should outweigh possible dodgy wording of a contract, or indeed working practices. Certainly I'd be gutted if I had a similar deal with someone that worked well for both of us, then years later they decided they wanted it treated differently.

WHS

For the bike courier types in the gig economy. I completely agree and support their court cases. They are not contractors or freelancers. They don't get paid a premium for the lack of employment benefits, but are subject to similar restrictions. They situation isn't close to ours, so I have always been fairly relaxed about these judgements.

This guy is the closest we have seen so far to a "real" contractor suing for employment rights. He was paid a hefty premium in lieu of the employment benefits.