"Addison Lee drivers are workers and entitled to backpay says court", 8 January 2025.

Around 700 drivers of private hire taxi firm Addison Lee could be entitled to backdated compensation for holiday pay and loss of earnings after the Employment Tribunal classified them as workers.

Law firm Leigh Day brought legal proceedings against the firm back in 2017 and argued that its 700 clients were workers rather than self-employed independent contractors.

Three of the 700 went in front of the Employment Tribunal that year, which sided with the drivers and ruled that they were indeed workers.

Addison Lee tried to appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal the following year, and after the case was rejected, the firm went to the Court of Appeal in 2021...

In a similar case, the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Uber drivers should be recognised as “workers”.

It was then revealed last February that the firm reached a settlement with the three drivers ahead of a hearing on the case.

Despite the settlement, Addison Lee argued the 2017 judgment did not apply to the other drivers.

The parties went on for a further hearing at the Employment Tribunal last October and November as Leigh Day argued the rest of the 690 plus drivers should be classed as workers and be entitled to workers’ rights.

On Wednesday, the law firm announced that Employment Judge... had ruled that all Addison Lee drivers are workers and are classified as working when logged onto the company’s app or mobile device.

It was also noted that holiday pay and national minimum wage claims can go back more than two years.

Commenting on the decision, an Addison Lee spokesperson said: “We are disappointed by the decision of the Employment Tribunal. We are currently considering options, including the right to appeal.”

While Liana Wood, lawyer at Leigh Day added: “We are delighted that the Employment Tribunal has found in favour of Addison Lee drivers. This decision is of huge importance to drivers at Addison Lee who have been fighting for many years to be recognised as workers and to be paid properly for the work they do."..