Court of Appeal decision on the meaning of “employee”: freelance interpreters
Case Secretary of State for Justice v Windle and Arada (2016) Eq Opp Rev 269:25, Court of Appeal
Facts W and A were freelance interpreters for the Courts and Tribunal Service. They were accepted as self-employed for tax purposes. They were only paid for the work which they did. The Service had no obligation to offer them work and they had no obligation to accept work. They complained of race discrimination. The issue was whether they were employees. The ET found that they were not. On appeal to the EAT, the appeal was allowed on the basis that mutuality of obligation was not relevant in determining status for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. The Service appealed to the Court of Appeal.
Decision 1. The appeal was allowed.
The ET had been entitled to find that the fact that there was no over-arching or umbrella contract which subsisted between individual assignments was a relevant consideration in determining whether or not they were employees.