Tribunal confirms worker status for performer in Tribute Show
Image of Charlotte Tosti
Cloisters’ Charlotte Tosti has successfully secured worker status under s230(3)(b) ERA 1996 for a dancer performing in a Britney Spears tribute show.
The claimant was engaged to dance in the respondent’s production under contracts described as “contracts for services”. While she also performed in unrelated shows, the respondent refused to pay accrued wages following her resignation, arguing she was an independent contractor and therefore unable to bring an unauthorised deduction from wages claim.
The Tribunal examined the reality of the working relationship. Under the contracts, the claimant’s core duties were to rehearse and perform as a professional dancer in the show, follow the specific choreography and direction, comply with a non-competition clause preventing work for similar competing productions, and participate in promotional activities as required.
Applying Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5, Employment Judge Harrison held that references to “Independent Contractor” did not determine employment status, and did not prevent the claimant from being a ‘limb (b)’ worker.
On the question of whether the respondent was a client or customer of the claimant’s business, the claimant argued that the show was the respondent’s original intellectual property, with unique choreography and direction. She was not performing that choreography elsewhere, and therefore the respondent could not meaningfully be considered a customer of her services. The Tribunal was also referred to McGuire v Crilly [2023] 7 WLUK 775, which found that festival operators exercised sufficient control over actors performing Shakespeare plays to preclude them from being customers of those actors.
The Tribunal agreed, finding that the respondent was not a client or customer of the claimant. She was therefore a worker within s230(3)(b) ERA 1996, and the respondent had made unlawful deductions from her wages.
This decision highlights that dancers and actors may be workers even where they perform in multiple productions, and that contractual labels are not determinative.
Charlotte Tosti was instructed by Pattinson Brewer and Equity.
The judgment can be found here.
