Your employment status
People who work in the UK generally have one of three employment statuses: employee, worker, or self-employed. Your employment status matters because it shapes your rights at work.
- Employees enjoy the highest level of protection.
- Workers enjoy some, but not all the rights of employees.
- For self-employed people, these rights are minimal and even exclude the right to be paid National Minimum Wage (NMW).
Some businesses try to deny people their employment rights by claiming they are self-employed, when in reality they are not.
If you think you might be falsely self-employed, take our quiz.
Has your employment status been mislabelled?
If you think your employment status has been mislabelled and you cannot solve this amicably with your employer, you can bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal.
The tribunal will look at the nature of your work in practice, and will not be limited by what is written in your contract or agreed orally with your employer. They will consider several criteria, such as: who decides when, where, and how the work is done, if you have the right to send a substitute in your place, or who provides materials.
If the tribunal finds that you are not self-employed but a worker, or an employee, it can order your employer to give you your rights, including things like holiday pay or National Minimum Wage.
Worker status or employee status?
An employee will usually have a regular schedule of set days and times they have to work, such as Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. A worker, on the other hand, may have an irregular schedule, and will only be paid for the work they do. Crucially, a worker can turn down work - such as shifts, and may not receive work when they are not needed.
Further resources
Acas is an official body that offers free information on employment rights.
If you are a visa worker, see our Immigration rights pages.
Employment Tribunal deadlines
If you believe the only way the dispute with your employer can be resolved is by taking it to an Employment Tribunal, there are strict time limits to do this. In most cases, you have 3 months minus 1 day from the date the problem at work happened to start the process.