A group of court interpreters and translators has withdrawn services at Chelmsford Crown Court, protesting against freelance pay and working conditions.
The Ministry of Justice now books their services through an app, run by contractor thebigword (TBW), and this has led to issues with invoicing and payments, they claim.
The MoJ outsourced court translation services in 2012, and TBW won a contract to provide those services in 2016. It provides face-to-face and telephone translation and interpreting services to other departments too, such as the NHS and emergency services.
According to one of the translators, using the app has meant late cancellations, travel cost issues, and in some cases, just one hour’s pay for a full-day booking.
Worker status
One told the BBC that she was living “pretty much on the poverty line”. Courts would be told that translators were not available when they were waiting for work, or they would not be able to see available jobs on the app.
The action cannot be classed as a strike as the interpreters are not classed as employees of TBW. However, law firm Leigh Day is representing a number of claimants in a bid to get them classed as workers in employment law, meaning they would be entitled to full rights such as the minimum wage and holiday pay.
The firm argues that, because of the way the company engages their workforce, including making them undergo a detailed recruitment process, providing them with branded equipment, fixing their rate of pay and limiting their ability to substitute others to do their work, they should be classed as workers rather than independent self-employed contractors.
When Leigh Day took the case earlier this year, one translator told them: “There have been times when I’ve gone to a job, and they’ve given me the wrong address.
“I’ve travelled for two hours or so to get to the job and I can’t do what I’ve been hired to do because I’m in the wrong place, so I lose out on the money for that job. They have no leniency when interpreters make errors, but when the error is theirs it’s a different story.
“They give you 28 days to submit your timesheet for face-to-face work. Most agencies have moved to electronic but if you do work through thebigword you have to print out a timesheet, fill it out, get it signed by the client, scan and upload it and send it over to them.
“You must wait for thebigword to verify it before you can request payment. It feels like they make the process deliberately long-winded – if there is an issue with the process, the interpreter does not get paid. You also don’t get paid the same month as doing the work – you get paid at best 60 days after the job has been invoiced.”
Leigh Day solicitor Gabriel Morrison said: “Interpreters at thebigword are integrated into and controlled by the business in such a way that we would consider them to be workers, rather than independent contractors.
“Our case aims to ensure that interpreters are not left financially worse off by the failure to recognise them as workers, and it is clear that some of the issues the interpreters have experienced with their pay have contributed to their recent decision to withdraw services.”
A spokesperson for TBW said: “We were aware of a planned protest by a small group of interpreters out of the 5,000 interpreters who work with us. We had contingency plans in place to minimise any possible impact on the services provided to the courts.
“We have a great partnership with our interpreters, who overwhelmingly enjoy the working arrangements we have with them. There are considerable benefits which they appreciate and understand.
“We have an open dialogue with our people about any issues raised. Our contracts are reviewed by leading employment lawyers who confirm they are entirely appropriate for self-employed freelancers.”
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