GMB union to challenge Amazon drivers’ employment status

The GMB union has announced that it will take legal action against three Amazon delivery companies, arguing that the drivers are wrongly classified as self-employed to deny them employment rights such as National Minimum Wage (“NMW”) and holiday pay.

The union states;

‘The drivers were required to attend scheduled shifts that were controlled by Amazon, meaning they did not have the flexibility that is integral to being self-employed. In this situation the couriers were treated like employees in terms of their working hours, GMB Union contends they should be treated as employees in terms of their rights too.’

The legal action being taken by the union is on behalf of members working for Prospect Commercials Limited, Box Group Limited and Lloyd Link Logistics Limited.

Two of the members are also claiming that they were dismissed because of whistleblowing as their roles were terminated when they raised concerns about working practices, such as;

• The number of parcels allocated to drivers resulted in excessive hours and/or driving unsafely to meet targets
• Drivers were being underpaid and not being paid amounts that they were contractually entitled to
• Drivers were expected to wait a significant amount of time to load their vans, extending their working hours

The announcement from the union includes a case study of one driver involved in the legal case who recounted his experience of leaving the house at 6am and returning at 11pm at night and having £1 deducted from his wages for any undelivered package.

A recent Freedom of Information request revealed that ambulances had been called to Amazon UK warehouses over 600 times within three years although Amazon frequently denied these accusations.

Aspire Comment

GMB have been involved in many gig economy cases including the landmark ruling in the Uber case in 2016 where the company’s drivers were successful in claiming that they were workers rather than self-employed and so, should be afforded worker rights such as holiday pay and NMW.

There has been much discussion following GMB’s announcement, with many citing that regardless of the outcome of yet another legal battle, it won’t be Amazon paying the price of miscategorising an individual as self-employed and denying them employment rights – it will be the intermediaries which Amazon uses to fulfil its labour requirements that have to bear the high cost of getting employment status wrong.

With the strength of trade unions, together with tribunal fees being abolished, it is essential that the correct employment status is determined and that the contractual documentation issued to an individual truly reflects the reality of their engagement.

If you’re concerned about employment status and the risk it can pose to your business, get in touch with Aspire to discuss how we can help prevent both financial and reputational risks.