What are the implications of the recent Court of Appeal ruling on the status of agency workers? Michael Wynn investigates
The employment status of temporary agency workers, in a state of turmoil since the decision in Dacas v Brook Street Bureau (UK) Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 217, [2004] All ER (D) 125 (Mar) has been clarified by the Court of Appeal in James v London Borough of Greenwich [2008] EWCA Civ 35, [2008] All ER (D) 54 (Feb). The court has confirmed that in cases of tripartite relationships involving agency workers, the question of whether a contract of employment is to be implied with the end user is to be decided on ordinary contractual principles and by the application of the necessity test outlined by Lord Justice Bingham in The Aramis [1989] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 213.
In his judgment, Lord Justice Mummery has settled any lingering uncertainties in the previous authorities, including his own observations in Dacas and those of Smith LJ in Cable and Wireless plc v Muscat
