What Uber ruling means
Employment law specialist explains the wider implications of landmark court judgment
Q I WAS interested to read the reports of the court case about Uber drivers last week.
Is there a chance that the changes in rules could effectively mean that other self-employed workers should be employed as well? A THIS was an important judgment and since I’m not a lawyer I asked employment law specialist Dawn Robertson, a partner at Rooney Nimmo in Edinburgh, to help with my answer. Dawn explained that the court case didn’t actually define the Uber drivers as “employed”, instead saying that they were “workers”, and that the difference is important. She said: “In employment law terms, an employee enters into a so-called ‘master and servant’ relationship with its employees, with the employees occupying the position of ‘servant’. “The law seeks to give most protection to employees because of the subordinate position they hold in the relationship. In this traditional employment relationship, the employer provides the employee with the tools and equipment required for the job, tells the employee what hours they are required to work and instructs the employee on what tasks and duties are to be performed and how they are to be done. An employee may be required to wear a uniform provided by their employer.
“In return, the employee receives a regular income and, relatively speaking, job security. Their employer will be responsible for notifying HMRC of any income tax and other liabilities and the employee’s pay will go through PAYE.
“In contrast, a self-employed contractor is viewed by the law as being able to enter into contractual relationships on an equal footing with those persons or businesses that require their services; they have the choice as to whether to take the work on, how it is done and whether they do it themselves or get someone to do it in their place.
“In addition, they are expected to use their own tools and equipment to perform the work and can do so as a sole trader, limited company or any other lawful legal entity. They will be responsible for invoicing their customers and clients and will be responsible for dealing with their own income tax and any other liabilities incurred as a result of performance of the work.
“Workers usually fall somewhere in between employees and selfemployed contractors. As such, the role they perform may have some of
the characteristics of a selfemployed contractors and some of the characteristics of an employee.
“For example, they may be required to account for their own income tax but may be required to perform the tasks in a particular way and are likely to be told when and how the work is to be performed.”
I asked Dawn why she thought the court ruled the way it did.
She said: “Firstly, the Uber drivers did not have any freedom when it came to the charges levied on the users. Secondly, Uber dictates the contractual arrangement entirely.
“Thirdly, once a driver has logged on to the Uber app, a driver’s choice about whether to accept requests for rides is constrained by Uber.
“Further, Uber exercises a significant degree of control over the way in which drivers deliver their services. Drivers provide their own car but Uber vets the types of car that may be used.
“Moreover, the technology which is integral to the service is wholly owned and controlled by Uber and is used as a means of exercising control over drivers.
“Everything taken together means that Uber is able to exert significant control over the services performed by the drivers.”
Dawn thinks this judgment could impact other people. She said: “The explosion of ‘gig economy’ workers in recent times suggest that the trend towards seeking ‘worker’ status is likely to continue. To benefit from the Uber decision, wannabe claimants will need to be able to demonstrate substantially similar characteristics to those evidenced by the Uber drivers.
“What the case demonstrates, however, is that businesses seeking to avoid employment relationships must tread with care if they are to avoid their so-called independent contractors gaining the status of worker or, in some case, even that of employee.”