Our retail business engages a large number of casual workers on zero hour contracts. However the business does tend to have the same casual staff attending for the same shifts on a weekly basis and then often use the same workers to increase their hours over busy periods such as Christmas. Some “casual staff” have been working these shift patterns for a number of years. I am having a conduct problem with one such employee and am unsure if the statutory disciplinary and dismissal procedures may apply to him. Has he inadvertently become an employee?

A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal case in GB gave some useful guidance on when a casual worker may have become an employee under a contract of employment with continuity of service. In Pulse Healthcare Ltd v Carewatch Care Services Ltd 2012 a number of workers all signed “Zero Hours Contract Agreements”. On examination the agreement made references to “employment” and was sub-titled “Principle Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment”. It referred to continuous employment and there were provisions about “salary”, uniforms, annual leave, sickness, notice and pension. However, it referred to hours of work as “zero” and under the heading "Mutuality of Obligation" there was permission