An employment tribunal has ordered private hire cab and courier business Addison Lee to pay deposits of up to £125,000 to continue with its legal arguments in the workers’ rights case brought by hundreds of drivers.
A 2017 employment tribunal found that Addison Lee drivers were workers and therefore entitled to rights such as holiday pay and the national minimum wage, which was upheld by an appeal in 2018 and Court of Appeal in 2021. Since then, more than 500 drivers represented by law firm Leigh Day have joined the claim; however, the three original claimants have still not received compensation, as Addison Lee has continued to appeal.
In 2022, Addison Lee argued that the original 2017 judgment did not apply to the other claimants and there needed to be further hearings to decide worker status. The drivers argued that Addison Lee had provided no evidence that working practices or contracts had changed, so those who had joined the claim should all be entitled to workers’ rights.
Leigh Day stated in a hearing on 30 and 31 March 2023 that the tribunal should either strike out some of Addison Lee’s arguments or order it to pay deposits in order to continue. A tribunal on 17 May ruled that Addison Lee must pay deposits in relation to claimants who worked during the period of July 2014 and 24 May 2016, and will forfeit £1,000 for each claimant if they re-run worker status arguments and lose.
The judgment explained that Addison Lee had not identified any new facts or circumstances that separated the original claimants from others, or explained why subsequent claimants would not show that they were workers.
It stated: “The principle impact of the deposit orders will be to encourage the respondent to actively consider whether time and resource…should be devoted to litigating issues that have previously been litigated and determined in favour of other claimants.”
Cecile Jeffries, employment lawyer at law firm Leigh Day, said: “This case has now been going on for seven years, and despite losing arguments three times, Addison Lee [is] still seeking to further delay the case and deny drivers the workers’ rights they deserve.
"The tribunal ruling is clearly encouraging Addison Lee to think long and hard about whether it wants to re-run arguments already lost. We hope that it will finally accept the ruling of the courts and give worker status and any necessary compensation to hard-working drivers.”
Addison Lee was contacted for comment prior to publication.
