Part VI of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 provides that for certain types of detriment claim an individual must have 'employee' status to be protected, and for other types, 'worker' status will suffice. Employee status is defined as an individual who has entered into or works under a 'contract of employment'. By contrast, a worker is someone who works under a contract of employment or any other contract whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business carried on by the individual. Therefore, it is clear to see that all employees are workers but not vice versa.

The position of agency workers differs again. Some agency workers may acquire employee status if a contract of employment can be implied between the agency worker and an end-user, or the agency itself. Whether an agency worker is a 'worker' under the general definition depends on the specific circumstances, including the applicable contractual terms. Therefore, in order to determine whether an agency worker is protected under Part VI, it will be necessary to consider the individual’s employment status and the specific type of detriment claim in question.