Excel cycle courier wins holiday pay case
A self-employed cycle courier working for Excel, which is part of CitySprint, has won entitlement to holiday pay after a central London employment tribunal ruled that he was actually a worker.
The tribunal said that Excel had wrongly classed Andrew Boxer as an independent contractor and failed to award him any holiday pay. As a result, the company was made to pay Boxer a week's worth of holiday pay amounting to £321.16.
Unlike independent contractors, workers are entitled to holiday pay, guaranteed minimum wage and protection against discrimination.
The judge in this case said that although Boxer provided his own “tools of the trade” he was not providing his services on his own account as a business undertaking and he was not entering into contracts for his business with clients.
Under the terms of the agreement, Boxer was required to work five days a week under the control of a controller, was paid a fixed rate for his work which was non-negotiable and was expected to stand by in between jobs.
Dr Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, said: "This judgement is yet further evidence of what we have known to be true all along: courier companies are unlawfully depriving their workers of rights.
"As the tribunal dominoes continue to fall we would recommend that courier companies which are not yet subject to litigation by the IWGB urgently get their act together.”
This case - the latest in a string of legal actions against gig economy employers such as Uber and Addison Lee - marks the second victory for IWGB. Back in January, a judge ruled that CitySprint should have classified courier Maggie Dewhurst as a worker and ordered the company to pay two days unpaid holiday pay.