David Smith v Carillion (JM) Ltd Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Intervener)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Elias,Lord Justice Fulford,Dame Janet Smith |
| Judgment Date | 18 March 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | [2015] EWCA Civ 209 |
| Docket Number | Case No: A2/2014/0395/EATRF |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 18 March 2015 |
[2015] EWCA Civ 209
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL
THE HON MRS JUSTICE SLADE sitting with Two Lay Members
UKEAT0081/13
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Elias
Lord Justice Fulford
and
Dame Janet Smith
Case No: A2/2014/0395/EATRF
and
Mr John Hendy QC and David Renton (instructed by Declan Owens for the Free Representation Unit) for the Appellant
Mr John Bowers QC and Jeremy Lewis (instructed by Clarkslegal LLP) for the Respondent
Mr Daniel Stilitz QC and Mr Tom Cross (instructed by The Treasury Solicitor) for the Intervener
Hearing dates: 4, 5 February 2015
Introduction.
The Appellant worked in the construction industry for some twenty years. He obtained an HND in Engineering Surveying from North East London Polytechnic in 1988 and thereafter worked on various building projects, initially as an engineer but progressing to site agent. He was active in his trade union, the Union of Construction Allied Trades and Technicians, and held a number of offices including shop steward and safety representative.
After 2001 he was unable to obtain employment. In 2009 he discovered what he understandably believes is the reason why: he was blacklisted because of his union and health and safety activities. An organisation called the Consulting Association compiled and maintained a database of workers in the industry who were perceived to cause problems for employers. About 40 companies accessed this information for a fee; these companies were also generally the source of the information logged in the database. The Association worked in secret but its activities came to light following a raid by the Information Commissioner. The Claimant was able to obtain his personal file in April 2009. He says that the effect of the information – much of which he contends was false – being made widely available was that he was blacklisted and forced out of the industry. Fortunately he secured a post as a lecturer in health and safety law.
He brought claims against three companies on the basis that by providing information about him to the Association, they had subjected him to detrimental treatment by virtue of his trade union and health and safety activities. He was permitted to bring the claims outside the normal limitation periods because he had been in ignorance of what had been going on and had taken proceedings within a reasonable period of becoming aware of these activities.
During the course of these proceedings he dropped the case against two of the companies and in this appeal we are only concerned with the claim against Carillion (JM) Ltd, which prior to acquisition by Carillion in 2006 was called John Mowlem & Company plc ("Mowlem"). It is that company which committed the allegedly unlawful acts. It remained a member of the Association until the takeover by Carillion.
During the course of the hearing before the Employment Tribunal, seven issues were identified. At the outset of the hearing the respondent conceded five of them. In substance Carillion made concessions that Mowlem had provided information about the Appellant to the Consulting Association between 1997 and 1999; that it was for the purpose of penalising him for taking part in the activities of an independent trade union and acting as a safety representative; and that the provision of this information caused him a detriment. The concession was stated to be for "pragmatic reasons", Carillion claiming that it was not in a position so long after the event to challenge the assertions made by the Appellant. It has to be said, however, that the evidence against Mowlem was very powerful.
It is pertinent to note that the only alleged unlawful acts relied upon were the provision of information to the Consulting Association. It is not said, for example, that the Appellant was refused any particular job by Mowlem for which he applied or was subject to any other detriment, although it is alleged that the consequence of Mowlem's actions (along with the actions of others) was continuing damage because he could not earn his living in the industry.
Notwithstanding that so many issues were conceded, the Appellant still failed to establish his case. This is because he accepted that in order to succeed in his victimisation or discrimination claims, he had at the very least to establish that he was employed pursuant to a contract with Mowlem. He conceded before the Tribunal that he was never an employee; his case was that he was contractually employed and had the status of a worker within the meaning of the relevant legislation.
The Employment Tribunal rejected this argument, holding that he had worked for Mowlem pursuant to a contract under which his services had been provided to Mowlem by an employment agency, Chanton. The Tribunal concluded that whilst both he and Mowlem had contracts with the agency, there was no contract at all in existence between him and the company as end user. On appeal the Employment Appeal Tribunal (The Hon. Mrs Justice Slade presiding) held that the Tribunal had properly directed itself in law and reached a conclusion open to it on the evidence. Accordingly it dismissed the appeal.
Mr Hendy QC, Counsel for the Appellant, seeks to challenge that finding. But even if he succeeds in establishing that a contract existed, he still has various other hurdles to surmount before his claim can succeed. As I will later explain, he has sought to rely upon articles 8 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the broad principle of construction conferred by section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
The company, represented by John Bowers QC, and the intervener, represented by Daniel Stilitz QC, both submit that the Employment Tribunal was entitled to find that there was no contractual relationship at all between the Appellant and Mowlem. They also contend that the relevant acts complained of, namely the provision of information at various times, all occurred prior to the Human Rights Act coming into force on 2 October 2000. Accordingly they say that even if Convention rights were engaged – which they dispute – that fact could not assist the Appellant since the obligation to give effect to those rights under domestic law, using the broad interpretative principles conferred by section 3, has no application to events occurring prior to the Human Rights Act coming into force. Finally, they also submit that the Act would not provide the assistance which Mr Hendy claims even if it were applicable.
The relevant legislation
The Claimant contends that he was penalised for taking part in the activities of a trade union contrary to section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and also for exercising the functions of a safety representative contrary to section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
As initially enacted, and at the time when the specific alleged unlawful acts were committed, section 146 was as follows:
(1) An employee has the right not to have action short of dismissal taken against him as an individual by his employer for the purpose of –
(a) preventing or deterring him from being or seeking to become a member of an independent trade union, or penalising him for doing so,
(b) preventing or deterring him from taking part in the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time, or penalising him for doing so…
Section 146 was amended by the Employment Relations Act 2004 to substitute "worker" for "employee" in relation to acts, or failures to act, on or after 1 October 2004. This was in part to give effect to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Wilson and Palmer v United Kingdom [2002] IRLR 568 which had found English law to be in breach of article 11 of the Convention.
The definitions of employee and worker are found in sections 295 and 296 of the 1992 Act respectively. Section 295 provides:
(1) In this Act—
…
The relevant definitions of worker and employee under the Act are as follows:
'contract of employment' means a contract of service or apprenticeship,
'employee' means an individual who has entered into or works under…a contract of employment, and
Section 296
(1) In this Act 'worker' means an individual who works, or normally works or seeks to work –
(a) under a contract of employment or
(b) under any other contract whereby he undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract who is not a professional client of his…
It follows from these definitions that whilst all employees are workers, not all workers are employees. The Appellant's submission below was that whilst he did not fall under subsection (a), he did fall within subsection (b). I will call that category of worker a "limb (b) worker".
A similar though differently structured provision to section 146, specifically designed to protect the status of those acting as health and safety representatives, is section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996:
(1) An employee has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his employer done on the ground that—
(a) having been designated by the employer to carry out activities in connection with preventing or reducing risks to health and safety at work, the employee carried out (or proposed to carry out) any such activities,
(b) being a representative of workers on matters of...
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