A YORK solicitor has said local businesses should seek advice if they are uncertain of employment rights following a tribunal launched against cab service Uber.

Uber is being taken to a London Employment Tribunal by two of its drivers, who claim the company is acting unlawfully by not providing holiday and sick pay.

The online cab service contends that the two drivers are self-employed and not workers, two legal definitions that are accorded different employment rights.

Jo Yeates, head of employment law at Hethertons Solicitors, says there is much more to the case that many businesses may need to consider.

“For me, this whole issue is really about control and choice. There is nothing inherently wrong with self-employed arrangements, so long as they are operated properly and genuinely,”she said.

“Many businesses are attracted by the flexibility of self-employed arrangements, not to mention the savings on holiday and sick pay. They do not have to provide work for set hours each week and they escape many of the obligations of employment law.”

She said the downside for businesses is that, for it to be a true self-employed contract, they cannot have much control over the individual and cannot insist on that individual working at any particular time or on a particular ‘shift’.

Talk of the floodgates opening for other cases was not likely, she felt.