Types of workers

It is important to understand in what capacity someone is working for another, as this can affect the rights they have under both the Employment Act 2006 and the Equality Act 2017.

There are various employment statuses that may apply, including employees (who generally enjoy full employment rights, subject to qualifying periods for some rights), workers (who have some employment rights), and the self-employed, who generally have the fewest rights.

The Employment Act 2006 generally defines these terms as follows:

• 'Employee': an individual who has entered into, or works under, a contract of employment
  
  
• 'Worker': an individual who has entered into, or works under:
  
  
  1. A contract of employment; or
     
     
  2. Any other contract (whether express or implied) whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party

However, there is no single statutory test under the Act to determine whether a person is an employee or a worker. Guidance in this area has largely developed through case law, with the Employment and Equality Tribunal considering what actually happens in practice.

Guides

• For a table of rights enjoyed by the various categories of working people, please see Appendix 1 of the Department for Enterprise Employment Rights Guide
  
  
• For those hired on a temporary basis, please see our Guide to Temporary Workers
  
  
• For information on zero-hours contracts, please see our Guide to Zero Hours Contracts
  
  
• For information on employing children, please the Employment of Children guide below issued by the Department of Education, Sport and Culture