If you are a freelancer working on projects for another firm, or a design/web development firm hiring a freelancer you may be concerned as to whether this work is classed as a ‘freelance engagement’ or if it has cross the line over to what is classed an employee by UK law?

What many may not know is that one does not become an employee simply because the employer states that the worker is an employee, or because they have an employment contract. According to UK law, an employee is such simply by virtue of the way in which they work, and this is the case even if they have no employment contract and have not been formally labeled an employee by the ‘employer’.

You may unwittingly have an employee on staff at the moment and be unaware of your legal obligations regarding them (such as your need to pay national insurance contributions for them), or you may think you are just doing freelance work for a certain firm, but have more rights than you realise – you may in fact be a employee, and all the legal rights that come with that.

There are some specific working behaviors that indicate that you are classed as an employee by law rather than an independent freelancer and these include;

- You are provided equipment to work with, often at a ‘place of work’.
- You need to ask for permission for days off.
- You work for one firm all the time and have little time left to work for anyone else.
- You are instructed as to how to complete the tasks provided and hand fed work.
- Your ‘employer’ trained you for the position.
- You are paid a regular amount at regular intervals rather than being paid to get a particular job done.

The Citizens Advice Bureau advise that no matter whether an employer calls their worker a ‘freelancer’, ‘contractor’, ‘self employeed’ or other name aside from ‘permanent employee’, if the worker is working in a particular way, such as described as above, they are an employee by law.

Employers are obligated by law to pay tax and national insurance for their employees as well as redundancy pay, maternity pay, and more.

Further guidance is available at:
http://www.direct.gov.uk
http://www.workingrights.co.uk