Worker Russ rips through parasites’ umbrella
aThis is an enormous victory against the curse of so-called umbrella employment companies – parasitic middlemen who blight the jobs market.
Pipe fitter Russ Blakely was working at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire but his employer was not the NHS. Like thousands in the construction trade he was caught in the umbrella system, being employed via a contractor and recruitment agency with his wages coming through a payroll company.
He went to an employment tribunal after he was denied holiday pay, and employer’s national insurance contributions were unlawfully deducted from his wages. These, as the name suggests, should have been paid by his employer.
A tribunal in Reading rejected his claim, ruling that he was selfemployed and not a worker – a specific employment status that gives certain rights.
Now he’s won an employment appeal tribunal in a ruling that sets a legal precedent.
The appeal found that while his contract stated he was selfemployed, he had to work at the direction of his bosses and so should have been classed as a worker.
The case was taken by Unite, Britain’s biggest union.
“This is a groundbreaking victory secured by Unite’s Strategic Case Unit in the fight against bogus selfemployment in construction and other sectors,” said assistant general secretary Howard Beckett.
“It blows a hole in the way that employment agencies hide behind payroll and umbrella companies, and pretend that they are not responsible for the employment of the workers they recruit.”
Russ, 57, had been taken on by On-Site Recruitment Solutions Limited, which had told him that his salary must come through payroll company Heritage Solutions City Limited – which charged him £18 a week to process his pay.
“I was working for an NHS hospital but there were four companies between me and the hospital, all taking a cut of what is taxpayer’s money,” he said.
“There are all these layers and it needs to be asked – what are they doing that’s of any value?”
Compensation, expected to be set at around £2,500, will be decided at a later hearing.
There were four firms taking a cut of taxpayer’s money