Robin works for Tremendous Cars as a taxi driver. He works out that his hourly rate is below the minimum wage. When he queries this with the company, they told him that he is self-employed and therefore not entitled to it. Following this, he gives an interview to a local journalist saying Tremendous Cars' policy has left him in such financial difficulties he is unable to pay his rent. The day after the story is published he is told that he can no longer do any work for Tremendous Cars because he has harmed the company's reputation. A term in his contract states that 'Drivers are responsible for upholding the company's image. Drivers must not make derogatory comments about the company on social or other media'. 

 

Robin's contract describes him as self-employed. Passengers are allocated to Robin via Tremendous Cars' app. Robin pays Tremendous Cars a small weekly fee and they also take a percentage of the fares he receives (deducted automatically by them from the card payments made by customers). He drives his own car and pays for its upkeep and fuel. His contract states that he must accept a minimum of 2 shifts per week but it is up to him to decide when to work. Once he has signed onto a shift, he must work the whole of it. He has occasionally used substitutes when he was unwell and this has been accepted by the company, although the use of substitutes is not mentioned in his contract.

Jane works for Tremendous Cars' head office and has developed some of the technology behind the app. She would like to work for a competitor, Fabulous Cars, to develop their app but is worried that Tremendous Cars will prevent her from doing so. There are no terms in her contract relating to working for competitors. 

 

Robin would like to know: 

(i)whether he is entitled to the minimum wage for the time that he worked for Tremendous Cars

. (ii)whether he can bring a claim for unfair dismissal and the likelihood of any claim being successful.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Robins Case Minimum Wage Potential Misclassification While Robins contract describes him as selfemployed the details suggest he may be incorrectly cla... View the full answer