The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal of a taxi driver in a landmark employment case involving the rights of part-time workers.

Ruling unanimously this morning, the court found that a part-time worker’s status can be an effective cause of less favourable treatment but does not have to be the sole cause.

Taxi driver Warren Augustine brought an employment tribunal claim against his former employer Data Cars Limited. During his employment in 2016, Augustine paid Data Cars a ‘circuit fee’ of 148 each week for access to its booking dispatch system. The fee was the same for all drivers, regardless of whether they were full- or part-time.

Augustine argued that the circuit fee contravened Regulation 5 of the Part-Time Workers Regulations, as part-time workers had to pay a higher fee per hour worked than full-time workers.

The case was dismissed by the employment tribunal. It found the circuit fee charge was not grounded on the fact that Augustine was a part-time worker. Subsequent appeals in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal failed, with the latter finding by a majority that part-time status was not the sole ground for the less favourable treatment. The court granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Lady Simler, with whom Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Hamblen, Lord Leggatt and Lord Richards agreed, in Augustine v Data Cars Limited, said: ‘The question on this appeal concerns the scope of the protection from unlawful discrimination afforded to part-time...

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