More Stuart riders sign up for rights claim in wake of Uber ruling thegrocer.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thegrocer.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Introduction - The reputation that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”) have for technicality, complexity, and unpredictability will not be.
Background
In 2016 various drivers brought claims against Uber for the national minimum wage, holiday pay and detrimental treatment for whistleblowing. To succeed, the drivers had to be workers for the purposes of the relevant legislation rather than independent contractors.
While there are (confusingly) slightly different worker tests in different statutes, for present purposes a worker is either:
an employee (ie, employed under a contract of employment); or
someone who works under a contract through which they undertake to perform work personally for someone who is not by virtue of that contract their client or customer.
In other words, workers agree to work personally and are not running their own business.
[co-author: Carrie-Ann Hopkins]
Under section 109(1) of the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010), an employer is liable for acts of discrimination, harassment, and victimisation carried out by its employees in the course of employment: “[a]nything done by a person (A) in the course of A’s employment must be treated as also done by the employer.” Section 109 further states that “[i]t does not matter whether that thing is done with the employer’s … knowledge or approval.” However, under section 109(4) EA 2010, an employer has a defence if it can demonstrate that it “took all reasonable steps” to prevent the employee from carrying out the act of discrimination. When considering an employer’s defence that it took all reasonable steps to prevent an employee from discriminating against another employee, a tribunal will examine how effective the steps were likely to be when they were taken and how effective they proved to be in practice. The decision of
UK Tribunal Rules & the Equality Act 2010 natlawreview.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from natlawreview.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.