What is an employee?

We have already looked at what constitutes zero-hour contracts and will now look at what defines an employee.

Under the employment legislation, an employee is simply someone who has a contract of employment. I know, a very useful definition! A contract of employment is a contract of service or apprenticeship. Employees have many rights unavailable to other workers.

What rights do employees have:

• The right not to be unfairly dismissed.

• Maternity and paternity leave and the security that comes with that.

This is only a short list, and there are, of course, many more. Being an employee is, therefore, the best position for a worker to be in.

However, those not employed under a contract of employment but still employed under some kind of contract are limb(b) workers. This includes people working under zero-hour contracts, for example. They, of course, have core statutory rights such as the right to receive the national minimum wage. However, they do not have access to all the rights reserved for employees.

This is just a brief overview. If you wish to learn more, the employment legislation is reader-friendly, and the government has a few useful articles on how to spot where you fit into all this. Watch out for a post on maternity/paternity leave later in the year.