Courier punished for refusing to work after eight hours in snow
A courier for Excel, a delivery company taken over by CitySprint last year, has claimed he was punished by being denied leave after he refused to continue to work after cycling in snow for eight hours. Andrew Boxer has taken his case to an employment tribunal and is asking to be classified as a “worker” — who is thus entitled to receive the national minimum wage, holiday and sick pay and a pension — rather than an independent contractor. Boxer’s is the second of four cases concerned with couriers’ employment status currently being supported by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain.

A courier delivering parcels in central London has described being punished for refusing work after eight hours of cycling in snowy weather, saying he received no paid breaks or holiday pay.

Andrew Boxer is the latest to take on the battle to be classified as a “worker” rather than an independent contractor.

As a contractor for Excel, a courier company that was taken over by rival firm CitySprint last October, Boxer is not entitled to the national minimum wage, holiday pay, sickness benefit or a pension. Excel, which is in liquidation and currently operating as part of CitySprint, is not contesting the case.

Boxer’s case is the latest in a string of tribunals against gig economy employers and the second of four relating to the employment status of couriers being backed by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain.

All four cases are being overseen by Joanna Wade, the judge who in January ruled that CitySprint had wrongly classed courier Mags Dewhurst as a self-employed freelancer. The company is currently appealing against that ruling. A spokesperson said: “This case has demonstrated that there is still widespread confusion regarding the law in this uncertain area.”

Boxer told the central London employment tribunal that he could not turn down work during a shift or take time off without prior arrangement, and had no official break times.

He said he had signed two contracts describing him as a self-employed subcontractor and incorrectly suggesting he could send someone with similar experience to cover his work for him because he had no option but to do so if he wanted to continue working for Excel.

“There was no point in going back and saying ‘I don’t like this clause’. They would’ve just laughed at me,” Boxer said. “The culture is such that people are scared of not getting work and losing the job because the power is in the controller’s hands.”

Boxer said the only occasion he could remember turning down an allocated job was after having worked for about eight hours in pouring rain and intermittent snow with temperatures of about 0C.

“I simply did did not have the energy and physcial resource to pick [offered work] up. It would have been dangerous to have carried on,” Boxer said. He said that he was told by his controller that as a result he could expect not to be given time off to attend auditions for acting work when he needed it.

Boxer’s lawyer, Casper Glyn, told the tribunal: “If you look at the reality, he is obviously a worker providing a personal service and not running his own business.”

Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the IWGB, said the union wanted to challenge the industry-wide practice of classing couriers as independent contractors.

The widespread use of self-employed workers is the subject of an inquiry by MPs while the prime minister has commissioned Tony Blair’s former policy officer Matthew Taylor to look into the matter.

The latest case adds to pressure on courier companies to change their way of working, particularly CitySprint, which has argued that the ruling is only relevant to the Dewhurst case.