Notes

Employees have more rights under the law and employers may be vicariously liable for harm caused to third parties by employees.

*Most people are employees this mean that they have an employment contract with the employer who can be a person, partnership or a company that they have full protection of employment law.
*The second category is that of independent contractor, this us someone who is self employed who contracts to provide services for a fee. Although they don't have employment rights as they are self-employed they do have some legal protection.
*The third category is a worker who although not an employee is entitiled to some of the core employment rights such as the right to be paid the minimum wage. It is a broader category than employees and includes persons who work on a causal basis. A worker is obliged to carry out their contracutal duties in person whereas a self employed contractor may substitute someone to cover for them if necessary.

The way that the distinction between employees and independent contractors is often reffered to is the split between a contract of service and contract for services. An employee works under a contract of services. This means that there is a master-servant relationship between the employer and the employee. Whereas a self-employed person works under a contract for services.

- An employee is entitled to all the avaliable employee rights
-A worker is entitled to some employment rights ex: minimum wage. working time, and non-discrimination
-An independent self-employed contractor has almost no employment rights

Employee:
-A number of tests have been applied over the years by the courts and which look at the nature of the relationship between the supposed employee and employer

1) Control Test: The extent that a person is under the control of the employer; is he has to obey orders etc..
2)The interigation test: This looks at how much the work is fully interegated into the work activities of the employing orginization. Is the work done as an integral part of the business? The more interegated a worker is the more likely he is to be considered as an employee. Is the person entitled to any benifits?
3)The economic relality test: its the opposite angle of intergated test. Where it looks for evidence of self-employed rather than employment and looks at issues such as does the person send invoices? or does he get paid holidays or does he pay taxes etc..
4) The mutuality of obligation test: The courts then moved on to look at whether the employer is obliged to provide work for the employee and the employee is obliged to accept it. If there is such an obligation then there is a contract of employment. If not then it is a contract for services. In other words it looks at if there is a master-servant relationship.