The Gig Economy – Addison Lee worker status tribunal hearing begins

The case is the latest in a long line of similar cases, all of which have so far been decided in favour of worker status.

London-based Addison Lee is the latest taxi and courier company to have its drivers' worker status called into question at the Central London employment tribunal.

The challenge brought by the GMB involves three Addison Lee drivers who the union claim are "workers" and should be entitled to the national minimum wage and holiday pay, which they do not currently receive.

This case has implications for more than 30,000 drivers across England and Wales, according to the GMB.

Addison Lee have been accused of shirking its responsibilities through bogus self-employment and wrongly classifying its drivers as self-employed with the result that drivers are denied the rights and protections that they were lawfully intended to have, including the right to not have their contracts terminated because they are members of a trade union.

Arguments against Addison Lee are that they exert significant control over the drivers in order to provide a highly trained and vetted driving service to the public indicating that the drivers should be regarded as workers.

The tribunal will need to decide, like they did for Uber taxi drivers in October 2016, whether Addison Lee's drivers are actually genuinely self-employed. If they are workers, they are entitled to a whole raft of employment rights including paid holidays and national minimum wage.

Uber is contesting the decision of the employment tribunal in October which ruled that its drivers should be entitled to be paid at least the national minimum wage and holiday pay, among other benefits.

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