Employment Law – Background
The South Australian Employment Tribunal has found that a chauffeur, who provided “little more than his labour” and exercised minimal control to limousine company Blue Ribbon Passenger Services, was a worker not an independent contractor.
Employment Law – Decision
The South Australian Employment Tribunal:
- determined that the arrangements between Blue Ribbon and its chauffeur was a contract of service, and as such the chauffeur was a worker for the purposes of workers’ compensation law
- believed in this circumstance the chauffer was “providing little more than his labour” within “Blue Ribbon’s systems and practices of work”
- concluded that the chauffeur operated within the “obedient milieu” put down by Blue Ribbon, as they told him which vehicle to drive and where to pick up/drop off customers, booked and allocated jobs through its systems or Uber and required him to complete worksheets daily to record his jobs. He also had no flat weekly fee or minimum hours and no set hours of work
- held that other factors pointed to a contract of service, including: payment of 50% of his income to Blue Ribbon to lease the vehicle, the requirement that the chauffeur sign up to Uber and that payments from customers were transferred from Uber to Blue Ribbon and the requirement to wear a uniform and name badge
- believed only a few factors suggested he was contractor including: his tax arrangements, payment for vehicle’s cleaning and 50% of petrol costs, holding an ABN and the employer’s failure to pay him leave or superannuation
The decision is available for you to read through the hyperlink:
Pirot Pty Ltd v Return to Work SA (Schultz) [2017] SAET 92 (11 August 2017)
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