What Constitutes An Employee?

The recent case of Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher and others has highlighted an important issue concerning the difference between employees and workers in legal terms.

Mr Belcher and his colleagues were engaged by Autoclenz to clean vehicles for car auctions. Autoclenz supplied all the cleaning equipment and materials, charging valets 5% of their weekly wage. They were paid on a piecework basis, and had to pay their own tax and National Insurance contributions.

The valets worked as sub-contractors. In 2007, their contracts were revised, and a "substitution clause" was added which specified that they did not have to carry out the work personally. Autoclenz was under no obligation to provide work for the valets, and they were under no obligation to accept work on any particular occasion.