Lee Ting Sang v Chung Chi-Keung
Lee Ting Sang v Chung Chi-Keung [1990] UKPC 1 is a UK labour law case concerning the scope of protection for people to employment rights. It took the view that an employment contract requires that regard be had to the economic reality of the relationship, looking at factors such as whether uses one's own tools or takes on business risk.
Facts
A skilled construction worker wanted to claim he was within the health and safety regulations. He did not have his own equipment.
Judgment
Lord Griffiths, 413-414, said there is a difference between ‘a skilled artisan earning his living by working for more than one employer as an employee and… a small businessman venturing into business on his own account as an independent contractor with all its attendant risks.’
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he had no responsibility for investment in, or management of, the work on the construction site, he simply turned up for work and chipped off concrete to the required depth upon the beams indicated to hi on a place by the [employer]… It is true that he was not supervised in his work, but this is not surprising, he was a skilled man and he had been told the beams upon which he was to work and the depth to which they were to be cut and the work was measured to see that he achieved that result. |
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See also
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Workplace protection cases
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Lee Ting Sang v Chung Chi-Keung [1990] UKPC 1
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see Scope of UK labour law protection
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Notes
References