Hammer blow for dodgy dealers in the gig economy with Stuart Delivery defeated in Court of Appeal as IWGB mounts group claim for workers’ rights

• Court of Appeal confirms claimant was a worker and it was unlawful to deny him basic rights like holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage.
• The ruling may have wide reaching implications for over 150 more Stuart couriers who are claimants on another case being brought by the IWGB and law firm Leigh Day.
• Misclassification of workers is widespread in the gig economy, in which 7.5 million Brits are expected to work by 2022.

Stuart Delivery, whose corporate clients include Pizza Hut, JustEat, McDonalds, KFC, Nespresso and Ocado, has lost its case in the Court of Appeal, which ruled that the claimant in Augustine v Stuart was a limb (b) worker and it was unlawful to deny him basic workers’ rights like holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage. Stuart tried unsuccessfully to argue that because it reallocates any jobs rejected by a courier, they have the right to substitution which is part of what it means to be an independent contractor.

The ruling could have wide reaching implications cracking down the practice of bogus misclassification in the gig economy, particularly as over 150 more Stuart couriers are already claimants in a similar case being brought against Stuart by law firm Leigh Day in partnership with the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB).

Stuart is also implicated in the scandal surrounding poverty pay and poor treatment of Ocado Zoom couriers. Though the contract was subsequently transferred, these couriers were working for Stuart when the IWGB began raising malpractice concerns with Ocado in November 2020. The IWGB Ocado campaign continues, backed by Black Lives Matter UK.

Misclassification of workers is widespread in the gig economy, in which 7.5 million Brits are expected to work by 2022. The IWGB has won reclassification and basic rights for workers at a number of gig economy corporations including eCourier and Addison Lee.

Alex Marshall, president, IWGB, says: “This is another huge blow for the exploitative employment model adopted by many companies in the so-called gig economy. It proves that workers can have both flexibility and workers’ rights. One by one, companies are being told to pay up and obey the law. It should not be the responsibility of low paid workers and their trade unions to organise and take legal or direct action in order to achieve these outcomes, but the IWGB and its members will continue to hold bad employers to account in order to end systemic exploitation.”

Gabriel Morrison, a solicitor in the employment team at Leigh Day, says: “Stuart has tried to deny Mr Augustine’s important workers’ rights three times, first in the Employment Tribunal, then in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and now in the Court of Appeal. Three times it has failed. This goes to show that what we have been saying all along is right: Stuart couriers should be classed as workers and given the rights they deserve.

Both Leigh Day and IWGB believe it’s time for Stuart to recognise that the way they treat couriers is unlawful, which is why we will argue that this ruling should apply to the hundreds of Stuart couriers we are bringing legal claims on behalf of.”

John Kirk, Stuart courier, Claimant, and BAME Officer, Couriers & Logistics Branch (IWGB), says: “Gig companies like Stuart fight tooth and nail in the courts to avoid providing even the most basic workers' rights. They think they can get away with it because their workforce is disproportionately BAME,  marginalised, and underpaid. But every court ruling in our favour brings their predatory employment model closer to collapse.”

For more information, contact:
Marienna Pope-Weidemann, Head of Media & Communications
press@iwgb.co.uk