Anyone who receives payment for work or services may not necessarily fall under the category of an employee. An individual may alternatively qualify as a ‘worker’ or ‘self-employed’. Your employment status will determine the level of rights that you are entitled to and the taxes you will pay. Under Northern Irish Law, workers do not have the right to be unfairly dismissed, and cannot bring claim for unfair dismissal to the employment tribunal.

One way of distinguishing between a worker and an employee will be to consider the degree of control exercised over the individual. In an employee-employer relationship, an employer will normally have some degree of control over how the work is carried out. The employee must complete the work personally and cannot send a replacement.

In an employee-worker relationship, there is a lesser degree of control over the individual conducting the work. Payment terms (whether monthly salaried, per hour or fixed fee) is also relevant, as well as who has control of a worker’s hours.  A worker can include casual workers, agency workers, zero hours staff or freelance workers.

In a recent government review, many responses said the current employment status tests are no longer fit for purpose with modern working practices. This is a developing area and changes in this field could be introduced in the future.