WRC

A webinar on employment law has heard that the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has been “rigorous” in implementing the Supreme Court’s key Karshan judgment on employment status.

The event (24 June) was organised by Law Society Professional Training in collaboration with the Law Society’s Employment and Equality Law Committee.

As well as presentations on the latest employment-law trends, the webinar included a discussion of capacity issues currently facing the WRC and an outline of recent case-law developments.

Discussing employment status, Fieldfisher partner Barry Walsh told the webinar that Karshan had set out a five-step test to determine whether a worker was an employee or an independent contractor and had led to the publication of a code of practice on the issue in October 2024.

Labels

Drawing lessons from recent case law, the Fieldfisher partner said that courts and the WRC were prepared to “consistently overlook” incorrect labels attached to written agreements.

“Just because the parties enter into an agreement identifying the worker as an independent contractor, that's going to be of limited value if that label disregards the reality of the relationship between the parties,” he stated.

Citing the case of Paul Lingard v Randridge International Ltd (In Examinership), where an individual had provided services through a limited-liability company, he said that the WRC had looked at the day-to-day relationship between the parties, pierced the "corporate veil",...

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