Employee status

Case 2: The facts

Mrs Edwards was one of around 25 relief hostel workers who signed contracts with a probation service to provide cover when its permanent staff were absent. She did not have to accept work when it was offered; even after she had accepted it, she was free to change her mind or to arrange for another relief worker on the list to do it. Equally, the probation service did not have to offer her work. However, when was doing the work, she was subject to the same level of control as the service’s permanent employees.

Edwards later brought a tribunal claim for unfair dismissal, for which she had to show that she was an employee of the service.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that Edwards was an employee (under a series of short-term contracts) when she was actually carrying out the work under the contract, even though she was under no obligation to accept all the work offered to her. This meant that she could bring an unfair dismissal claim if she could establish that she had a year’s continuous service; her length of service, the EAT said, was a matter for another tribunal.