Workers confused and concerned about employment status, claims Acas

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Many "gig economy" workers are confused about employment status and fear that raising concerns about it could affect their job prospects, according to Acas. The conciliation service has detailed a range of queries to its helpline as it submits its response to the Matthew Taylor review on modern employment practices, which is due imminently. Acas chair Sir Brendan Barber, said: "Our helpline analysis revealed that many callers were in a zero hours, agency or self-employed arrangement out of necessity rather than by choice, with some people feeling taken advantage of and unfairly excluded from employment rights.” He explained that many people had called the helpline for advice on how to challenge their employment status following a number of recent, high-profile "gig economy" tribunal decisions on worker status. “These types of working arrangements can offer flexibility to individuals and employers. But it is clear that there can be a lot of confusion around employment rights and feelings of insecurity within these non-traditional types of working”, Barber added. Acas’ helpline received calls on a wide range of issues relating to non-standard working arrangements, such as:

• workers who fell out of favour with their manager were not sure if they had been dismissed or simply left out of the rota temporarily. This had a knock-on effect on their income security as the Job Centre was unab