An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld a decision in a previous tribunal that an agency worker operating through a personal services company is the employee of the agency’s client.

Adrian Marlowe, managing director of recruitment law specialist Lawspeed, said that even though the worker operated through a personal service company, the EAT ruled it must follow a precedent set in an earlier case, Dacas v Brook Street.

In the Brook Street case, the court of appeal ruled there could have been an implied contract of employment between the worker and the agency’s client.

The EAT found that in this latest case – Cable and Wireless v Muscat – the contract between the agency and the worker cannot affect the employment relationship between the worker and end user. The case is subject to a right of appeal.