Salaried director was not an employee

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that a director, who received payments described as ‘salary’ was not in fact an employee or worker and so the various employment-related claims he had brought were unsustainable.

The facts

The case of Rainford v Dorset Aquatics Limited EA-2020-000123-BA arose out of a dispute between two brothers, Bradley and Ben. The brothers were co-directors and 40/60 shareholders in a small family company which did landscape work and made water features.