Just Eat faces worker status test at Employment Tribunal next week

The outcome will determine whether couriers are entitled to key workplace protections including the National Minimum Wage, paid holiday, and written terms of employment.

The tribunal will consider a number of preliminary issues, including whether couriers meet the legal tests for employee or “limb (b)” worker status, and whether Just Eat should be treated as their employer for the purposes of employment rights legislation. 

The couriers, whose claims were first issued in 2023, argue that the reality of their working relationship with Just Eat is inconsistent with the company’s classification of them as self-employed independent contractors.

Judgment is expected later in 2026.

Leigh Day is acting in a number of worker status claims across the gig economy, representing drivers, couriers and others in cases concerning entitlement to basic employment rights.

In January 2025, an employment tribunal ruled that drivers for Addison Lee, represented by Leigh Day, are workers entitled to rights including holiday pay and the National Minimum Wage. This followed a 2024 ruling that Bolt drivers represented by Leigh Day are also workers, and the 2021 UK Supreme Court decision in favour of Uber drivers, which has shaped the law in this area. Leigh Day also has ongoing claims against eCourier and BCA.