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IR says you are, Employment court says you arent...

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    #11
    Ok sat down to give this some thought before replying. Lets see if i get what you are saying

    IR declareing you IR35 caught does not mean they are declaring you an employee, but rather a disguised employee

    You are also saying because there is normally no contract between the contractor and client (ignoreing direct contracts) that ET would not view you as an employee of the client even if IR declared you a disguised employee

    On the surface it seems reasonably logical. But here is my point, law, especially tax and employment law rarely is so simple and straightforward (if it was ir35 would not exist because at end of the day you are either an employee or not) and even less it is logical

    To give you an example of how "messed up" employment laws can be, few years ago most online games and services like AOL chat rooms used volenteers to help "police" their games/chat rooms, these people were unpaid and received no benefit in kind. But there was some rules and regs they had to stick to, main important one how many hours per month they had had to do or else lose their position.

    On one of these games they changed some things that the volenteers did not like, they refused, were removed from their position and then turned around and sued the game companys in france (well there game companys) and USA (there it was aol) for "emploment rights" (holiday and sickness pay and so forth)

    Now for you and me these people would not be employees, they were volenteers giving their free time, but guess what? they won. What was main decideing factor? That they had to work certain amount of hours (in both case's)

    Due to things like that i would not be so sure that a contractor could not be declared an employee, regardless of contract, especially a non ir35 compliant contract with the normal "no no" clause's (or working practices) like named contractor, fixed schedule and so forth and hell even better if IR can "ignore" the contract and just take into account the working practices so can the ET. It could swing either way imo

    As to IR35's "disguised employee" status, afaik no one has challanged IR in the courts on this particular invented status (correct me if i am wrong, case's i have seen have only challanged if they passed or failed IR's "checklist" not the actual clasification it's self). Thus this calls into question "disguised employee" status it's self, either for or against the client or contractor or agencys depending on the circumstances/target

    It's due to all these question marks that it never cease's to amaze me that so many clients and agencys are not trying to do even more than with contracts to make contracts and working practices make it look even more like the contractor is not an employee

    Comment


      #12
      Originally posted by Not So Wise
      sued the game companys in france (well there game companys) and USA (there it was aol) for "emploment rights" (holiday and sickness pay and so forth)

      Now for you and me these people would not be employees, they were volenteers giving their free time, but guess what? they won.
      This story is unbelievable. It fails a sanity test

      I'm a volunteer worker paid 0 dollars per hour. I get pee-ed of with my emploeyer and sue for holiday pay. I win 2 weeks holiday at um, zero dollars per hour.

      A phryic victory non?

      It doesn't make sense for anyone to do this. I'm not suggesting that you are wrong that they took action on something, but suing for Employment benefits is silly.

      tim

      Comment


        #13
        Employment status

        Whatever the legal merits or otherwise of the arguments, I believe, as a result of my own personal experiences, that involving the ET at some point in a dispute with the IR , could be very beneficial. Whether or not such an approach furthers the general cause, remains to be seen.

        However, I am firmly convinced that any individual faced with a persistent challenge under IR35 from the IR, could gain an advantage by involving the ET. In my case, the IR certainly decided not to challenge me under IR35 when I had lost my case in the ET.

        Clearly they were too afraid of the political consequences of continuing with the challenge, and the amount they would retrieve from me in "unpaid" taxes, would not warrant taking the political risk.

        The message I'm sending is that in the fight against the IR, any weapon is fair game. Despite the high initial cost of my actions in the ET, in the long term, I have gained considerably as a result of my actions. Yes, it was a gamble, but it was a reasoned and calculated gamble.

        The icing on the cake is that the agency which conspired with the client to mis-represent the contractual terms and declined to represent me further, failed to place their man in the contract that I now hold and have held for almost 5 years. So my actions did not damage my prospects of gaining further contracts.

        Comment


          #14
          For me...at the end of the day I would rather have a COURT telling me I am not an employee than have "commissionsers" who are not backed up by a court of law saying I am an employee

          Mailman

          Comment


            #15
            Originally posted by Mailman
            For me...at the end of the day I would rather have a COURT telling me I am not an employee than have "commissionsers" who are not backed up by a court of law saying I am an employee

            Mailman
            But to do this you will have to take your current employer to an ET.

            If you do this in some sectors, win or lose, you will never work in that industry again.

            Is it worth it?

            tim

            Comment


              #16
              Employment status

              "If you do this in some sectors, win or lose, you will never work in that industry again" - I'm still working in the same sector. If your skills are in demand, then it shouldn't be a problem. However, I agree that there is the potential for a problem.

              In my case, paying IR35 would have made it economically unviable to continue contracting, so I had nothing to lose (and I had already had my contract terminated). What I believe we should have is the ability to have our employment status decided by the ET, without the client having to defend a case. Clearly impossible with the current structure.

              But if the IR are being allowed to contact the clients and ask for details of an engagement, without any implications for them, then the ET should be allowed the same facilities. i.e. the contractor asks for the ET to decide their employment status and the ET approaches the client for information regarding the engagement.

              Comment


                #17
                Originally posted by Sionner
                "If you do this in some sectors, win or lose, you will never work in that industry again" - I'm still working in the same sector.
                which is?

                Comment


                  #18
                  Sector

                  Legacy 3gl support.

                  Comment


                    #19
                    Originally posted by Sionner
                    Legacy 3gl support.
                    Well without being entirely clear what you mean by this,

                    it is a (horizontal) skill set,

                    not a (vertical) industry sector, such as avionics, automotive, chemical ....?

                    tim

                    Comment


                      #20
                      Skill set and industries

                      Just to clarify matters, I have worked in IT in various industries for 39 years. I am an experienced IBM Assembler and PL/1 programmer, and also have programmed extensively in Cobol on several hardware platforms, but currently on HP3000.

                      I have used a host of 4gl tools as well as several different DBM systems. I have worked in the steel industry, the automotive industry and consumer electronics industry. However, all my experience relates to traditional commercial data processing systems. I have been involved in sales order processing, ledger systems, payroll systems, process control systems, warehousing systems and what I regard as my forte, manufacturing systems. I've been working as a freelance IT consultant exclusively on HP3000 architectures for the past 9 years, having been made redundant from my last post, which was effectively data processing manager.

                      My hobbies are classic cars and motorcycles, and anything with wheels and cogs, e.g. steam locomotives and aeroplanes. I enjoy all types of music that generally people would call pleasant, i.e. pop (particularly 1960's of course!) and classical, although I'm not too interested in jazz. Like many other contractors, I am fundamentally opposed to IR35, and in general I oppose any regulations which seek to restrict or control the lives of the ordinary citizen. Hope that gives you some background about me.

                      Comment

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