Agency worker or employee?

Case 5: The facts

Karen Robertson worked through an agency before being taken on as a permanent employee. She was dismissed nine months later and claimed unfair dismissal, arguing that she had the required continuous service because she had in fact been an employee of the company while she was an agency worker. A tribunal agreed, noting that there had been mutuality of obligation and the company had had control over her work.

The ruling

The EAT held that Robertson had not been an employee while working for the agency. An employment contract can only be implied in cases where the employment relationship is unclear, it said – but in this case there was clear documentation that Robertson had worked via the agency and not as an employee of the company. She could not pursue her claim.

Wood Group Engineering (North Sea) Ltd v Robertson UKEATS/0081/06