Uber appeal on 'worker' status
05 December 2017
Uber's application to 'leapfrog' an appeal to the Supreme Court has been refused.
Last month, the Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed Uber's appeal in Uber BV v Aslam, upholding the employment tribunal's decision that Uber drivers were 'workers'. Uber announced an appeal and applied for permission to 'leapfrog' the Court of Appeal and go straight to the Supreme Court, something which is only granted in a tiny minority of extremely important cases.
Having been refused permission to leapfrog, the appeal will now be heard by the Court of Appeal some time next year.
Meanwhile, the Pimlico Plumbers case on worker status is due to be heard by the Supreme Court in February 2018, which will give the Supreme Court an opportunity to review worker status (albeit not in the context of the 'gig' economy) very soon.
With thanks to Daniel Barnett’s employment law bulletin for providing this update.