Employment status disputes

Lambden v Henley Rugby Football Club & another UKEAT/0505/08/DA concerns the employment appeal tribunal’s rejection of an individual’s assertion of employee status.

The individual supplied personal services under the control of the contractor, for which he was paid a fixed monthly sum, provided with a company car and credit card. Employed ? No.

At the outset of the arrangement, the contractor offered the remuneration terms but left the individual to determine whether he wanted to be an employee under PAYE or a “self employed” contractor. He chose the latter option, and operated through his own service company.

When the arrangement was terminated, the individual sought to argue he was not an independent contractor but, rather, an employee and, therefore, entitled to employment law rights.

The appeal tribunal upheld the ET’s decision that the individual had voluntarily chosen to act as a contractor and that he was aware of the implications of that decision. Despite the relationship being one reflecting many individual factors which pointed to the existence of an employment relationship, the individual’s own choice of status reflected the truth of that relationship, per Massey, and he was, therefore, a self employed contractor.

The decision provides useful ammunition in the context of categorisation disputes under IR35.