Contract changes

Case 4: The facts

Ms Bushaway started work for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) as a temp through an employment agency, as there was a job freeze at the organisation. When the freeze was lifted six months later, she was taken on as a permanent member of staff doing the same job. Less than a year later, she resigned and claimed constructive dismissal.

The issue was whether she had been an RNLI employee from the start, and therefore had the year's continuous service needed to pursue her claim.

Although the agency had deducted her tax and National Insurance and suggested that she was self-employed, Bushaway had received her instructions from an RNLI line manager and needed RNLI approval to take holiday. However, when she was taken on permanently, some of her terms changed - for example, she got more holiday and could join the pension scheme.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said that the changes to Bushaway's terms when she became a permanent staff member were not significant - an employee's terms may be very different at different times in their employment.

What was significant was whether her employment conditions indicated employment or self-employment, and the EAT upheld the tribunal's decision that Bushaway had always been an RNLI employee.

RNLI v Bushaway UKEAT/0719/04