| Acas

3. Worker

People with 'worker' employment status have some employment rights, but not as many as employees.

What makes someone a worker

Someone is likely to have the legal status of worker if most of these things apply:

their work for the organisation is more casual, for example work is less structured or they do not have a regular working pattern
they're usually required to personally do the work
they're not offered regular or guaranteed hours by the employer
they have very little obligation to make themselves available for work, but should do work they've agreed to
they're not carrying out work for a client or customer of their own

If most of these do not apply, someone is more likely to be an employee or self-employed.

Workers are sometimes referred to as 'limb (b)' workers. This term comes from the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Employment rights

Workers' rights include:

a written statement of employment particulars outlining their job rights and responsibilities
minimum wage
paid holiday
payslips
protection for whistleblowing
protection against discrimination
protection from less favourable treatment for working part time
protection against detriment for taking action over a health and safety issue

Workers are not usually entitled to:

a minimum notice period if their employment is ending, for example if their employer is dismissing them
protection against unfair dismissal
make statutory flexible working requests
time off for dependants
statutory redundancy pay

Statutory pay and leave

Depending on their National Insurance contributions, workers might also be entitled to:

Workers are not entitled to:

shared parental leave
parental bereavement leave
maternity, paternity and adoption leave
neonatal care leave
carer's leave

This is because they do not have to make themselves available for work. They can choose to take time off when they want to.

For example, if an agency worker meets the definition of 'worker' employment status, they would not qualify for statutory maternity leave. However, they can tell their employer they're not available to work if they want to take time off while pregnant or after giving birth.

Get more advice and support

If you have any questions about employment status, contact the Acas helpline.

You can also find out more about: