The contract title is not the test

Updated September 2026

Most pages here assume employee status because that is who can bring ordinary unfair dismissal. Plenty of people who are told they are contractors are workers. That gap is why holiday pay and the minimum wage still apply when a dismissal claim would not.

The two labels that matter

An employee works under a contract of employment. A worker, including the so-called limb (b) worker, does the work personally and is not running a genuine business of their own, even if they are not an employee. Self-employed contractors sit outside both. Tribunals look at control, substitution, mutual obligation, and how the work is actually done. A substitution clause that nobody ever uses is not a magic wand.

Gig platforms, casual hospitality, and “contractor” building work are where this goes wrong most often. The about page used to stop at employees. Use this page when the label is the first fight.

What workers still get

Workers are inside National Minimum Wage, statutory holiday, working-time limits, and the Equality Act. The written statement of particulars is a day-one worker right as well as an employee right. Whistleblowing and discrimination claims do not need employee status. Automatically unfair reasons that are framed as worker rights follow the statute, not the job title.

What usually needs an employee

Ordinary unfair dismissal, statutory redundancy pay, statutory layoff guarantee pay, and most family-leave pay schemes are employee rights. The two-year qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal lasts until 1 January 2027, then the staged six-month period — see the unfair dismissal clock. If you are a worker and not an employee, do not spend the limitation period waiting for a dismissal claim that the tribunal cannot hear.

What to do next

Write down who sets your hours, whether you can send someone else, and how you are paid. Acas can talk through status without you filing anything. If money is missing, the deduction clock still runs. If you were dismissed and you might be an employee, use the tribunal calculator now, not after a status argument has dragged on.