Employee, worker or self-employed?

Your rights at work depend on whether the law treats you as an employee, a worker or self-employed. The label on your contract does not decide it. Many people described as self-employed contractors, and most people on zero-hours contracts, are workers or employees with rights to holiday pay and the minimum wage. We advise individuals and businesses across England and Wales.

Key points

Tribunals look at how the relationship works in practice, not only at what the paperwork says.
Workers are entitled to the minimum wage, paid holiday, rest breaks and protection from discrimination and whistleblowing detriment.
Employees have those rights and more, including unfair dismissal, redundancy pay and family leave.
An employer cannot stop a zero-hours worker from working elsewhere.

The three categories

Employee: you work under a contract of employment. You must do the work yourself, the employer must provide work and you must do it, and the employer controls how you work.
Worker: you agree to do work personally for someone who is not your client or customer. Casual, agency and many gig-economy staff are workers.
Self-employed: you run your own business, can send someone else in your place, choose your work and take the financial risk.

How a tribunal decides

The questions are whether you must do the work personally, whether there are obligations on both sides to offer and accept work, how much control the business has over you, and how far you are part of its organisation. The written contract is the starting point only. In Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher [2011] UKSC 41 the Supreme Court held that a tribunal should look at the true agreement where the document does not reflect reality. In Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5 it held that Uber drivers were workers, because Uber set the fares and the terms and controlled how the service was delivered.

Rights by status

Workers have the right to the National Minimum Wage, 5.6 weeks' paid holiday, rest breaks and the 48-hour week limit, protection from unlawful deductions, discrimination and whistleblowing detriment, and to be accompanied at a disciplinary hearing. Employees have all of those and the right not to be unfairly dismissed, statutory notice, redundancy pay, maternity, paternity and parental leave, and protection under TUPE. The self-employed are protected by their contract, and by discrimination law if they are contracted to do the work personally.

Zero-hours contracts

A zero-hours contract does not guarantee you any work. You are still usually a worker, and often an employee if the pattern is regular. A clause that stops you working for someone else is unenforceable under section 27A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and you must not be dismissed or treated badly for doing so. The Employment Rights Act 2025 will give zero-hours workers a right to be offered guaranteed hours, but that part is not yet in force and no start date has been set.

If you think your status is wrong

You can claim the rights you have been denied, most often holiday pay and the minimum wage, as unpaid wages. The tribunal decides your status as part of the claim. Tax status is decided separately by HMRC and does not settle your employment rights.

How we work

We look at your contract and how you work day to day, tell you which category you fall into and what you are owed, and bring the claim. For businesses we review contractor and casual arrangements and put them on a proper footing.

What it costs

We assess your case first and agree how you will pay, and what it will cost, before any work starts. A first consultation is £100 for half an hour or £180 for an hour. Typical costs for a tribunal claim are on our fees page.

Questions people ask

My contract says I am self-employed. Does that settle it?

No. A tribunal looks at how the arrangement works in practice. If you must do the work yourself and the business controls how you do it, you are likely to be a worker or an employee.

Do zero-hours workers get holiday pay?

Yes. Workers on irregular hours accrue paid holiday at 12.07% of the hours they work.

Can my employer stop me working for someone else on a zero-hours contract?

No. An exclusivity clause in a zero-hours contract is unenforceable.

Can a worker claim unfair dismissal?

Ordinary unfair dismissal is for employees only. Workers are protected from discrimination and from detriment for whistleblowing, and many people labelled workers turn out to be employees.

Does paying my own tax make me self-employed for employment law?

No. Tax status and employment status are decided separately.