K McGuire and E Graham v D Crilly T/a The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival: 3300180/2023 and 3300333/2023
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 29 August 2023 |
| Date | 29 August 2023 |
| Citation | 3300180/2023 and 3300333/2023 |
| Court | Employment Tribunal |
| Published date | 25 September 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Unlawful Deduction from Wages |
Case no: 3300180/2023
3300333/2023
1
EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS
First Claimant
Kit McGuire
Second Claimant
Elizabeth Graham
V
Respondent
David Crilly t/a The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival
Heard at: Cambridge
On: 7 July 2023 (in person)
Before: Employment Judge L Brown
Appearances
For the Claimant: Mr I. Ameer, Counsel
For the Respondent: Mr S. Sunak, Counsel
RESERVED JUDGMENT ON A PRELIMINARY ISSUE
The Judgment of the Tribunal is:
(1) The Claimants are “limb “b”” workers as defined in S.230(3) of the
Employment Rights Act 1996.
(2) The Tribunal makes a declaration to that effect; and
Case no: 3300180/2023
3300333/2023
2
(3) Unless remedy can be agreed between the parties, a Remedy Hearing is
to be listed.
REASONS
Background to the case
1. The Claimants in this case have both worked in different locations performing
as actors in the production of plays. The two claims for the Claimants were
initially issued with separate case numbers but were then listed together due to
the same issues of law in each case. They bring claims on the basis they are
both “limb ‘b’” workers pursuant to section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act
1996 (“ERA”) that is a worker who:
“has entered into or works under…. any other contract, whether express or implied and
(if it is express) whether oral or in writing, whereby the individual undertakes to do or
perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status
is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business
undertaking carried on by the individual”.
2. The Respondent, who I shall hereafter refer to as “the Respondent” or “the
Festival”, produced Shakespeare Plays each year and it was run on an annual
basis by the Respondent during the period between the end of June and the
end of August (“the Festival Period”) and took place in or around the University
of Cambridge.
3. Mr McGuire, the first Claimant, left before the end of the Festival Period after
the final performance of Twelfth Night on 30 July 2022.
4. Ms Graham, the second Claimant, whilst she was suffering from the effects of
Covid-19 and was self-isolating, was notified by the Respondent on 3 August
2022 that she had been replaced from her role in the Festival,
Conduct of the hearing
5. This hearing was listed as a final merits hearing but at the outset of the hearing
both Counsel invited me to turn this hearing into a preliminary hearing to
determine whether or not the Claimants were limb “b” workers within the
definition of s.230 (3) of the ERA 1996, as there was insufficient time to
determine both this preliminary issue and to then go on to decide, if necessary,
what claims should succeed. I therefore ordered that the hearing be turned into
a preliminary hearing to determine the issue of whether or not the Claimants
were limb “b” workers within the meaning of the ERA 1996.
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