In James v Redcats (Brands) Ltd [2007] IRLR 296 EAT, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has given guidance on the definition of a worker under the national minimum wage legislation.
In Leisure Employment Services Ltd v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs [2007] IRLR 450 CA, the Court of Appeal has held that sums deducted from the pay of workers living in employer-provided accommodation to offset the cost of utility bills can not be counted as part of their wages for the purposes of establishing if they are receiving the minimum wage.
In Anderson v Jarvis Hotels EATS/0062/05, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that an employee was contractually entitled to be paid for periods when he was required to sleep on the employer's premises, even though he rarely had to carry out any work during these periods.
In MacCartney v Oversley House Management, the EAT the Employment Appeal Tribunal holds that an employee who was required to remain on call at or close to her place of work was 'working' even if her employer provided her with a home at her place of work.
In Scottbridge Construction Ltd v Wright the Court of Session upholds the EAT's decision that a "nightwatchman" who was required to be on his employer's premises for 14 hours each night was entitled to be paid the national minimum wage in respect of all those hours, even though, while required to respond to an alarm at any time, he only had to undertake specific tasks that took around four hours a night, and was permitted to sleep if he chose to when not carrying out those tasks.
The Court of Appeal gives important guidance on how far tribunals need to go in exploring the circumstances of a claim. Plus cases on protected disclosure, redundancy selection, discrimination by an agent, working time exemptions and constructive dismissal.
In Lawson and others v Edmonds, the Court of Appeal holds that, although a pupil barrister did make a legally binding contract with the members of the chambers where she was a pupil, she did not enter into, or work under, a contract of apprenticeship or an equivalent contract.