Employment Status of Meal Delivery Workers and ADR in UK

The assignment explores the English legal system, its branches, sources of law, and the employment status of meal delivery workers. It concludes that these workers are employees of KANGO and provides options for resolving disputes through ADR.

Business Law

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business law is that body of law which governs the operations and activities of a
business. Under the business law are defined rules regulations and provisions related with the
businesses describing the way in which an organisation must conduct its activities. In general a
business is governed by the civil law of the nation dealing with both public and private law. The
regulation related with contract, hire prices, manufacturing, selling are also defined under
business law. In the present report the company KANGO (K)'s staff is explained what English
legal system with branches and sources of this legal system. Detailed related with formation of a
legislation is presented.
Along with this the employment status of the employee working with K is also
determined. Moreover, the management of K is explained with options related with different
types of business organisation. In the last section of the report K is given suggestion over the
alternative dispute resolution method through which it can solve the commercial issue with IT
suppliers.
TASK 1
English legal system: English legal system is one of the oldest legal framework in world
as it is in existence from around 12th century. The legal framework defined the laws guiding the
activities and operations of the business as well as the citizens in UK. The legal system is
basically divided int two parts:
Branches of law:
Civil law: this branch deals with the issues of less serious natures under which a party
have faced civil wrong due to the action of another person or an organization. The civil wring
includes breach of contract, negligence, breach of care of duty, tort (Legal systems in UK, 2018).
The aggrieved party suffers monetary damages rather them serious nature of physical damages.
Remedies are available in the form of compensation for the damages, fine and imprisonment for
ta time of 6-12 months.
Criminal law: this breach of the law deals with the offences of serious nature including
those incurring serious bodily harm or death of another person. The types of criminal offences
are murder rape, sexual assault, manslaughter. The remedies available for such action are
prosecution of the person means jail, life imprisonment with heavy fines. Eg: Criminal law act,
1967
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Court structure:
Judicial committee of Privy council: This is the final authority to file an appeal to either
to her majesty in the council or to the judicial committee. Here, a final appeal from the hirer
court can be filed.
Supreme court: in 2009 the house of lords was replaced by Supreme court where the
appeals from the court of Appeal are heard. The appeals are heard by minimum 5 and maximum
9 justice who are lords of apple in ordinary or law lords.
Court of Appeal: This is divided into two parts: civil and criminal. The civil division
hears apples related with civil law and family justice from the high court, tribunals and specific
cases from county court.
High court: There are 3 divisions of high court, the chancery, Family division and
Queen's Bench division. The chancery one deals with cases relating to trust, equity, contentious
probate, taxation, bankruptcy, land, commercial fraud, business disputes, insolvency, company
management, and disqualification of directors, intellectual property, copyright, patents and
trademarks UK Court Structure, 2018). The Family division deals with cases pertaining to
materiel matters, divorce, custody of children, adoption, domestic violence, annulment. The
queens bench hears the judicial reviews appeals and application over statutory matters.
County courts: This court deals with the matters of complicated nature which includes,
claims for repayment of loan, breach of contract, mortgage, rent arrears, Here cases are heard by
judge rather than a jury.
Crown court: This deals with criminal cases which are transferred from magistrate
court. This includes rape, murder, sexual assault, robbery. The case is heard by a jury and
decision is passed by the judge.
Magistrates' court: this court deals with cases of summery offences which are less
serious in nature. It includes cases of betting, gambling and liquor (Gelter, 2016). The cases are
hears by either a penal of 3 judges or a district judge.
Tribunal services: The decision which are made by tribunals services are related with
asylum, criminal injury compensation, social security, employment, child support, pension, tax.
Sources of law:
Customs: The UK legal system is one of the older law in world and one of its source for
law is the customs. This means that the beliefs, habits, behavior of the people becomes a
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practice with no legal backups. These habits and practices are given legal recognition and are
formed a part of UK law.
Common law: The decision give by a court over a case attains a binding effect on the
lower court. The binding effect is given to the ruling through the doctrine of judicial precedents.
The effect is such that all the lower court are required to refer to the case ruling to higher court
over the same subject matter.
Act of parliament: This is the main source of law, where the statues are formed through
Parliament. Th act came into existence after getting approval from both houses of parliament and
royal assent. These are required to be followed by all the judges while passing the decision over
a case and must be interpreted in its true sense.
Parliamentary stages to the bill formation:
A proposed new law is a bill which must be passed by both the House of parliament and
receive a Royal assent from the queen before becoming an act of parliament. Bill is first
presented to either of the house that is to house of lords or to house of Commons. The bill is
introduced in the parliament through First reading, which is a notice about which bill is going to
be proposed and what is it about. The title of the bill is read out at this stage. After this bill goes
to the second reading, here the principles of the bill are considered by the member of the house,
her voting is done as to whether bill shall proceed further or not. After this comes the committee
stage, bill is referred to the house committee for detailed examination. Here amendments are
made in the bill. With this comes the report stage where the debated and amendments are made
back to the House. Here bill is further debated and voted upon. After this the bill goes it third
stage where short debates may be done and voting is done to whether bill should be accepted or
rejected. With this bill goes to another house of parliaments where it goes to all the same stages,
amendments are made and sent back to the first house to consider the same. With getting
approval from both the houses, bill is proceeded to Monarch, where the Queen formally approves
the bill and then it becomes an Act of Parliament.
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Illustration 1: Parliamentary stages of a bill
(Source: <https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/>. How does a bill become
a law)
TASK 2
The Gig economy: this can be defined as a free market setting where s organisation
enters into a temporary contract with the independent contractors for a short term engagement.
The independent contractors work on their terms and condition, can hire some else to do their
work, operated individually, do not take instruction from other and also carry their own
equipments to carry out their work.
Pimlico Plumber v Smith case: Mr. smith was a plumber in Pimlico Plumber
organisation from August 2005 to April 2011. In January 2011, he suffers from heart attack as a
result of which he becomes incapable of performing his job work. For this Mr. smith asked for
reducing working hours on which Pimlico refuses and fired mr. smith. Against such dismisssal
and unfair treatment mr. smith filed a claim. Mr. smith also claim for employee discrimination
made on ground of disablement, denial of sick and holiday pay under the Employment Rights
Act and the Equality Act. The decision of the case in 2018 being in the limelight over the
employment status of an independent worker Smith, working on contract basis in Pimlico. The
lord in this case held that Smith was employer of the organisation. This decision was given on
the fats that there was an overarching contract, business had a tight control over Smith, derives
the branded Van of Pimlico and tracker was attached to van and he also carried an identity card
with fowling instruction from the control room.
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Employment status checklist
Factor Self employed Employee
Personal
services
Provide own services also can hire
someone else to carry out the work
Provides personal services
Obligation Work as per ow term and condition, can
turn down work ant time (Employer,
2018).
Must work as per work offered by
employee which is being requested to
worker.
Right to
control
Control their own work and no control
of the other party
Employers control all the action of
employee at the work to what, how and
when to do.
Equipment Bring in their own supplies and tools. Employer provides all machinery,
materiel and equipment to carry out the
work.
Employme
nt benefits
Entitled to benefits but not such
pertaining to a fulltime employee.
Eligible to get pension, enjoy canteen,
sports club, car parking.
Financial
benefits
Amount ids received on job to job
basis.
Eligible to get national minimum wages.
Leaves, holidays and sick pay.
Employment status of Couriers of KANGO:How does a bill become a law?. 2018
This can be seen the couriers have ride the bicycle of the brand colour of K to deliver the
meals to consumers. More over they had a contract with K and were to wear uniform of K.
further more before taking a leave they must inform the operations of K 48 hours prior taking off
from the work. Here it can be seen that the K has full control over the couriers, and they had
right of substitution (Wood Graham and et.al., 2019). They were not even allowed to take work
off without any information which is not in accordance as per the definition of the independent
contract. Moreover, they were dependent of K for getting the work as they have signed the
contract with the organisation (Essential-know-how, 2018). With this and as per the decision
passed in the case of Pimlico case it can be clearly seen the K have an absolute control over the
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couriers delivering the meals. So they are determined as the employees of KANDO and being
employed.
With this the couriers working for K get all the rights and power available to an employee
of the K including national minimum wages, sick and holiday pays as well as leaves.
TASK 3
There are different forms of business organization available to a business person to form
ad conduct the business under available business structure:
Sole trades: This is a form of unregistered business where only a single person forms
and carry outs actives of the bushiness. All the assets and liability pertained to the owner itself.
The profits belong to him/her as well. The liability of that person conducting the business is
unlimited.
Partisanship: This is form of business formed by contractual agreement between two or
more individuals. It is a private association of persons having no legal distinction between
personal assets of partner and that of the business (Lee, Yiu and Cheung, 2016). Each of the
partner has an authority to bind the partnership as a whole and forms and partners are bound by
these acts accordingly.
Limited company: A company is registered under the Companies Act, 2006.With
incorporation its gets a distinct identity of its own separate form its members and directors. The
assets and property of the business belong to itself and owner have no right over the same. The
company gets a right to sue and be sues under its name as it is a recognized as a separate person
under the law. The liabilities and obligation of the directors and members of the company are
limited.
Advantage available to KANGO with getting its business registered as limited company
under provisions of Companies Act, 2006:
 A limited company is a completely separate entity from its owners (10 Advantages of
Running Your Business as a Limited Company, 2018). Everything from the company
bank account, to ownership of assets and involvement in tenders and contracts is purely
company business.
 Runic business as limited company provides a more professional image to the business.
 To find funds and to secure business finance is easier as compared to sole trader and
partnership business.
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 It can issue different types of shares.
 The business runs in perpetual succession.
 Directors of the organisation have been liable to make effective ascertainment of the
operational practices such as paying off the stakeholder before firm declares insolvency.
The legal personality referencing the case of Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd. -
Salomon was a leather merchant who converted his business into a company named as
The Salomon v A Solomon & Co Ltd. The company consist of salomon, salomon's wife & five
children as company members. The company purchases the business of salomon by paying a
consideration of £39,000. The purchase consideration was paid in terms of £10,000 debentures
with a charge over the company’s assets, £20,000 in fully paid, £1 share each and the balance in
cash.
Within one year the company becomes incapable of conducting its business operations
and hence its liquidation proceedings started. The assets of the company was not sufficient to
meet its liabilities. Against which the company's liquidator made Salomon responsible for
company's debt. For this, Salomon sued.
The Judgment from high court stated that on incorporation of a company, it is considered
as a new business legal entity which is separated from its owners and shareholders thereby
insulating Mr. Salomon, the owner of The Salomon v A Solomon & Co Ltd., from personal
liability to the creditors of the company.
Legal personality: With the case of Salomon V solomon the House of lords affirmed
the principle of the company being a serrate and diction from the directors of the company. This
concept stated that a company is a legal person in the eyes of law having its own assets and
property along with legal duties and obligations as well. The directors of the company can not
be held liable for the action of the organization till the corporate veil is pierced. The directors get
immunity from the deeds and actions of the company and not libel for the debt of the
organization.
Steps to set a company: the registration of the company as per sections of companies act,
2006:
 Memorandum of associations a legal statement which is signed by all the initial
shareholders who forms the company. (Section 8), all the members take at least one
share.
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 Make a application of registration as per Section 9 (2) giving details of the company such
as name, address of registered office.
 Article of Associate is required to be formed which contains all the rules on running the
company and agreed by all the shareholders Section 9 (5).
 Statement of capital and initial shareholding Section 9 (4) this states the company’s share
capital and shareholdings. Most small private companies (as this will be) have minimal
share capital.
 Statement of compliance section 13 state that all the registration requirements have been
complied with and the registrar can take this statement as evidence of compliance.
Role and duties of director: as per section 170-178 of the Companies Act, 2006
 Section 170: To act in the good faith and best interest of the company.
 Section 172: promote the interest and sucess of the company.
 Section 173: To act within the powers given to them as per the article of association of
the company and do not act beyond the given duties and responsibility out of
authorization.
 Section: 175- To not take personal interest in the business transaction and not to take
benefits from third party under the business contracts and transaction. To abide with all
duties and responsibility as director.
 Section 76: To avoid conflict of personal and business interest and give priority to the
business.
TASK 4
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR): ADR can be defined as an alternative approach
to solve the commercial dispute between the parties to business transactions. There are various
method available under ADR: Arbitration, mediation and negotiation. This is an out of court
settlement technique where parties need not to go to court to solve the dispute saving their time
as well as cost of court proceedings. This is informal in nature and parties can also can involve
in process of resolving the dispute unlike in the litigation proceedings there is no such option
available. The ADR methods are: Central System
Arbitration: It is the most effective and practices method in the real world to solve the
business disputes. Under this a third impartial party is appointed as arbitrators who decide over
the case and pass the final decision as award over the issue (Huws and et.al., 2017). The
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arbitrator takes into consideration all the evidences and facts from both the parties and hear out
the story of both sides (Gelter, 2016). An investigation is carried out b the arbitrates and then an
award is passed which have a biding effect on both the parties and they do not have a right to
appeal against such order.
Arbitration is the most practised method of all the methods of ADR because in the ad hoc
arbitration which can be chosen by the parties provides the arbitrator with a ready made code of
procedure and their adoption results in time saving on the lengthy arguments on the procedural
points. Three of the advantage of Arbitration are the parties can trust the resolution over the
dispute as judges are chosen by themselves. Secondly, the parties do not have a right to make
apples so the decision given is final to meticulous legal accuracy and finally, the proceedings are
held in private so the matter remains to the parties and the arbitrators only which is a boon for
sensitive matters.
Mediation: This is another method of ADr where a third party is appointed as mediators
whose duty is to bring party to taking terms and so that parties can discuss over the problems to
reach an amicable decision. Here the mediators is not responsible to pass a decision over the
dispute rather he/she has duty to bring parties to a point where they can talk and negotiated over
the terms and condition of problems.
Negotiation: Here parties do not involve any their party to resolve the dispute rather they
themselves enter into negotiation a so that they can reach to a solution to the problem after
discussing the points of disputes and how they can solve them. A decision reached after
negotiation can be made binding by making it bound through the court.
K can chose any of the alternative available and give make the decision biding with the
order of court so that no parties can deny to the solution reached afterwards. The ADR is less
formal, cheap and faster way of solving the dispute as compared to the litigation process.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that English legal system defined the rules of
law for the business as well the citizens of UK. It is divided into two branches civil and criminal.
The sources from which it gets its law are customers, act of parliament, and case laws. The
employment status of the workers delivering the meals to customers has been identified as
employee of the KANGO. To reach the result a proper checklist for determining the employment
status have been worker out. Furthermore, the management of K was presented with the option
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available to them as to type of business organization and is advised to register it business as a
limited company. Lastly, K have been suggested to go fro ADR to resolve its dispute with IT
supplier in order to avoid lengthy court proceedings and to save the cost of litigation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gelter, M., 2016. EU Law with the UK-EU Law without the UK. Fordham Int'l LJ. 40. p.1327.
Wood, A.J and et.al., 2019. Good Gig, Bad Gig: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the
Global Gig Economy. Work, Employment & Society. 33(1). pp.56-75.
Huws, U and et.al., 2017. Work in the European gig economy. SELL. 62(59). p.54.
Lee, C.K., Yiu, T.W. and Cheung, S.O., 2016. Selection and use of Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR) in construction projects—Past and future research. International
Journal of Project Management. 34(3). pp.494-507.
Online
How does a bill become a law?. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/>.
Legal systems in UK. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/5-636-2498?
transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&comp=pluk&bhcp=1>.
UK Court Structure . 2018. [Online]. Available through:<http://www.justcite.com/kb/editorial-
policies/terms/uk-court-structure/>.
10 Advantages of Running Your Business as a Limited Company. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.bytestart.co.uk/limited-company-advantages.html>.
Employer. 2018. [Online]. Available through:<https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/employers>.
Essential-know-how. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/employers/essential-know-how>.
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