Employment status
The case of a limited company contractor who has been able to successfully assert that he was an employee of his client has recently been raising eyebrows across the industry. In Asltrom v Tilson, Mr Tilson, who operated through his own limited company which was acting as a subcontractor, whose principal was being supplied to the client through an agency, successfully showed that he was an employee of the client and thus succeeded in his claim for unfair dismissal. Although the contractual documentation appeared to suggest that the relationship was one of an independent contractor, this documentation was regarded as “bogus” by the court. On examining what was actually happening on a day to day basis, the Court found that the evidence supporting the case that Mr Tilson was an employee of the client was compelling. Such factors included that Mr Tilson was able to hire, discipline and dismiss the…