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Zero-hours contract workers
[ch 2: page 53]Under a zero-hours contract, the employer does not guarantee to provide any hours of work at all. Again, “zero-hours” is a label, with no legal status. Employment status is worked out, as always, by applying the usual tests of mutuality, personal service and control.
In an important ruling, following on from Autoclenz v Belcher [2011] UKSC 41, the EAT decided that regardless of whether a written contract document describes the contract hours as “zero”, a tribunal must examine the factual context to see whether employees are in fact obliged to work regular hours:
Five careworkers were engaged by Carewatch to provide a 24-hour critical care package for VF, a severely disabled lady. Carewatch lost the contract when the PCT awarded it to new providers, Pulse. Pulse argued that the careworkers were not employees. Alternatively, they argued that the workers lacked enough continuous service to bring unfair dismissal claims, because they were on zero-hours contracts.
In reality, the five claimants had worked an agreed number of hours on a regular basis over a number of years caring for VF. The EAT said the contract documentation did not reflect reality. Instead, said the EAT, the claimants were all employees with global contracts of employment to provide a fixed number of hours each week, and with enough service to bring their claims. “Any other conclusion, given the circumstances of this case, would have been unrealistic.”
Pulse Healthcare Limited v Carewatch Care Services Limited & Others [2012] UKEAT 0123/12/2007
The Pulse case shows the importance of keeping evidence of hours worked (for example pay slips) to prove the true nature of the employment contract.