Employed Or Self-Employed?

This was a question that the Jersey Employment Tribunal had to grapple with recently in a case involving a man who undertook the book keeping, some administration and banking tasks on a parttime basis for a restaurant for a period of nine years.

When the restaurant business directors decided to do the tasks the man had undertaken, he was given a month's notice. He worked this out but subsequently filed a JET1 claiming redundancy pay and an award for unfair dismissal. Only if his status was that of an employee would he be entitled to claim these, under Jersey's Employment Law.

Initially the man had indisputably been self-employed, but the position became less clear when some of the circumstances changed and a verbal agreement reached regarding the payment of his Social Security contributions by the business.