eCourier Drivers' Claim

Anyone who is a current eCourier driver working on a self-employed basis or who has recently worked as a self-employed driver for eCourier in the last 10 weeks.

For the purposes of this claim, we are only able to represent drivers who are members of IWGB union and have been described by eCourier as being self-employed in their contract.

We estimate that eCourier drivers will be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation.

We are claiming:

· Back payment for unpaid holiday payments.

· Compensation if you received less than the National Minimum Wage.

· Compensation for eCourier’s failure to provide a written statement of employment particulars

We will calculate your compensation using documents such as your driver statements, bank statements, records of hours worked and receipts. At the end of the claim, if we win, we will deduct 25% plus VAT from your compensation for our legal fees.

We are only acting for drivers who are members of IWGB.

If the claim is lost, you should not have to pay eCourier’s legal fees unless there are exceptional circumstances such as if you behave in a vexatious, abusive, disruptive, or otherwise unreasonable manner, or ignore an order of the Tribunal.

Yes, you can still join the claim if you have worked as a driver for eCourier in the last 10 weeks.

If you have not worked for eCourier as a driver in the last 10 weeks, but may return to work for eCourier, please register your details on the sign-up page as you may be able to join the claim in the future.

A number of employers have faced “worker” status cases in Tribunals and Courts over the last few years.

Most notably in 2021, the UK Supreme Court heard a final appeal by Uber against an Employment Tribunal’s original decision that their drivers were workers, rather than independent contractors. The Supreme Court found in favour of the drivers and dismissed Uber’s appeal against the Tribunal’s original decision. Uber drivers are now entitled to receive holiday pay, the National Minimum Wage and other benefits from Uber.

There have been subsequent similar decisions in claims against Addison Lee and Bolt.

The Uber judgment does not directly impact upon the eCourier case. However, our view is that if you succeed with the claim in Employment Tribunal, the Uber Supreme Court decision makes it far less likely that eCourier will be able to successfully appeal an Employment Tribunal decision in your favour.

We appreciate that bringing a claim against your place of work can be worrying.

However, there are strong laws in place to prevent any negative action being taken against you by eCourier for bringing a claim.

If eCourier did remove your work, we can bring an additional claim on your behalf arguing that eCourier should pay you compensation for removing your work. We believe that there would be a good case for arguing that it is unlawful for eCourier to remove or change the conditions of your work because of your claim and that you would be entitled to additional compensation.

The law

According to the Employment Rights Act and the National Minimum Wage Act, it is against the law for an employer to subject you to detriment i.e. treating you unfavourably or putting you at a disadvantage in terms of work (please see examples below), because you have tried to exercise certain employment rights, such as taking action to secure the national minimum wage.

What counts as detriment?

• reduction in hours or responsibilities
• disciplinary action
• threats of dismissal
• denial of training or promotion
• being ostracised or treated adversely

Protections

Section 45A of the Employment Rights Act says that if a worker has brought a claim against the employer to enforce one of his or her rights (such as the right to be paid minimum wage), that worker has the right not to be treated unfairly, or worse, by his employer. As your right to not be subjected to any detriment is protected by the law, if an employer subjects you to detriment, then you can bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal for compensation. eCourier know that it is against the law and that you can bring a claim and so understand it would be highly risky for them to act against you in a negative way, such as reducing your hours or offering you less favourable jobs, or dismissing you from your job. eCourier’s lawyers have assured us in writing that they are well aware of their obligations under these laws.  Companies are often afraid to take unlawful steps like retaliating against workers when the case is public and run by Leigh Day.

In the case that you were dismissed or felt that eCourier were treating you detrimentally, we would recommend that you tell us immediately and make a note of everything that happened. The first step we would take is to write to the company and tell them to stop.

As an added protection, on 7 January, Leigh Day wrote to Weightmans, eCourier’s lawyers and asked them to confirm in writing that eCourier would not treat any working bringing a claim detrimentally. On 12 January, Weightmans responded to say that eCourier is well aware of its obligations under the relevant statutory and contractual frameworks. This confirms that they must bear in mind the law quoted under ‘Protections’ above in their response to any worker who decides to bring a claim. Having this confirmed in writing provides Leigh Day with extra leverage if they were to treat a worker negatively and so makes it less likely that they would do so.

No. This claim is about workers’ rights, in particular your right to receive holiday pay and at least the National Minimum Wage. You can be self-employed for tax purposes and a worker entitled to workers’ rights.

We are not challenging the fact that you are self-employed for tax purposes. We recognise that some drivers may want to remain self-employed.

We see no reason as to why you should have less flexibility as a worker, rather than a self-employed independent contractor.

eCourier simply needs to ensure that it allows drivers to take time off and to pay them for this, in the same way that any worker is entitled to paid holiday. eCourier also need to make sure that the rate it pays its drivers is high enough that they receive at least the National Minimum Wage, once you consider the amounts they have to spend on expenses, like petrol.

No, you do not need to provide any documents to join the claim.

Once you join the claim, we will contact you with further information. During the course of the claim, we may ask you to provide documents to support your claim, such as documents which assist in calculating your compensation. We will contact you if we need anything from you.