Taxi Driver Online

Just today Addisson Lee drivers declared not self employed in case bought by the GMB

Addison Lee - GMB Judgement 2017

https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/News-20 ... unal-finds

In an important ruling, which will affect thousands of Addison Lee drivers, the Employment Tribunal has today ruled that a group of Addison Lee drivers were not self-employed, as Addison Lee argued, but are workers who are entitled to essential workers’ rights, including to be paid the National Minimum Wage, receive holiday pay and not have their contracts terminated because they are members of a Trade Union.

The drivers’ claims, which are supported by the trade union, GMB, were heard in the London Central Employment Tribunal in July 2017.

Liana Wood, from the Employment team at law firm Leigh Day, which represents the drivers, said: “We are very pleased that the Employment Tribunal has found in favour of our clients.

"This judgment acknowledges the central contribution that Addison Lee’s drivers have made to the success of the company by confirming that its drivers are not self-employed but that they work for Addison Lee as part of Addison Lee’s business.

"Addison Lee advertises itself as a premium driving service and seeks to ensure that its drivers meet the high standard required for that premium service. However, Addison Lee drivers very often work very long hours, in excess of 60 hours a week, in order to just earn enough to cover their basic living costs. Addison Lee has sought to deny its drivers the most basic workers’ rights, including to be paid the National Minimum Wage and to receive paid holiday.

"This is a very important decision by the Employment Tribunal and will go some way to addressing these issues. This decision will not just have an impact on the thousands of Addison Lee drivers but, following on from the decision in Uber, on all workers in the so-called gig economy whose employers classify them as self-employed and deny them the rights to which they are entitled.

There will now be a further hearing in the Employment Tribunal to calculate the holiday and pay that the drivers should receive.

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

and I'm sure their members will be gratefull when they have to hand over a third of their takings each week to the tax man as now they have to pay MORE National Insurance and tax straight away

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

They will of course have the £11,500 personal allowance to use up.

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Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5

Yepjust like SIR PHILIP GREED GOOGLE AMAZON MICROSOFT THE VON WINDSOR SCUM etc

Paid holidays employment rights respect Union recognition will of course ensure the Drivers are much better off !!

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

I’ve always thought that AL were an easier target than Uber, but pleased to see both have been found to be acting outside of workers legislation.

Clearly these things need to go through the whole legal process, but I think the future of the trade will defo be different to its past, in respect of workers rights and personally I welcome it.

Too many times I’ve seen drivers who have found themselves in serious financial situations through illness, and whilst workers rights might not be a panacea for this, every little helps.

I also know that drivers get the hump having to pay when they have the cheek to take a holiday.

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IDFIMH

I’m not sure that’s the case.

Having workers rights doesn’t mean you have to be employed in a normal 9-5 way, you can still be self-employed but have workers rights.

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IDFIMH

At the moment there are 3 classifications. Self employed, employed and worker under the direction of a company. Would that fit in with the current classification of self employed or worker under the direction? Or would it require a separate classification?

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Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5

Uber rival’s drivers are ‘workers’, employment tribunal rules


Gig economy blow as verdict says Addison Lee owes holiday pay and minimum wage

Addison Lee, a rival to Uber, has suffered a legal blow after a London tribunal ruled that drivers for the company were “workers” owed holiday pay and the minimum wage.

Addison Lee’s defeat follows a similar case last year against Uber: drivers for both companies argued successfully that they were not really “independent contractors” because they did not have enough control over the way they worked.

Uber, which is also battling to retain its licence to operate in London, will begin its appeal against that employment tribunal ruling on Wednesday.

The Uber case was the first in Britain to test the key premise of the “gig economy” that people who work via such apps are not employed by any company. But a slew of tribunals since then, including the one brought against Addison Lee, has highlighted that many other private hire and delivery companies treat their drivers as "independent contractors" too.“

If you think of Uber as the archetypal “gig economy” company, and Addison Lee as something a bit different — actually [this shows] they operate in a very similar way,” said Nigel Mackay, a solicitor at law firm Leigh Day who worked for the claimants in both the Uber and Addison Lee cases.

“It’s another example of self-employed independent contractor status being misused by companies like this to deny workers’ rights and avoid paying tax.

”There are two types of employment status in the UK: “employees” and “workers”. Both groups are entitled to the minimum wage and holiday pay, but only employees have broader rights such as suing for unfair dismissal. Independent contractors have none of these rights.

An Addison Lee spokesman said: "We note the tribunal's verdict, which we will carefully review. Addison Lee is disappointed with the ruling as we have always had, and are committed to maintaining, a flexible and fair relationship which generates work for 3,800 drivers."

The Addison Lee case, which was heard by the London Central Employment Tribunal in July, was brought by a group of drivers supported by the GMB trade union. Addison Lee argued its 3,800 London drivers were independent contractors who could “log on” to work whenever they wished.

But the judges noted the company exerted control over many aspects of the drivers’ work. The written ruling said the vast majority of drivers leased their cars from an “associated company” of Addison Lee. They were also given a dress code to follow and “driver guidance” such as: “Please do not engage in conversations about sex, politics, religion or anything controversial”.

The judges concluded that the drivers were “in a subordinate position” to Addison Lee and could not “sensibly be viewed as contracting with a client of their driving business”.

Addison Lee lost a similar case involving one of its cycle couriers earlier this year. Courier company CitySprint also lost a test case on the issue. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Pimlico Plumbers and its founder, Charlie Mullins, after plumber Gary Smith persuaded the court of appeal that he was a “worker”, which allowed him to bring employment claims for discrimination, holiday pay and unauthorised deduction of wages.

source: https://www.ft.com/content/8c604808-a20 ... 5e6a7c98a2

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

link to the Addy Lee courier case - https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal- ... 00436-2016

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Who knew?