Royal Mail is being accused of classifying delivery drivers as self-employed in order to avoid paying sick pay and the minimum wage.
The drivers claim that for them this also means facing fines from Parcelforce (the company’s parcel delivery subsidiary) should they call in sick.
As well as this, despite being classed as self-employed, the drivers don’t have control over the days, hours or the routes they take.
As a result, they are suing Royal Mail with their case being handled by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and the solicitor Leigh Day.
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A Parcelforce spokesperson said: ‘All of our owner drivers are self-employed and we refute any claims that this is not the case. Our self-employed drivers play a valuable role in delivering parcels in the UK and are free to provide their services to other businesses.
‘Our owner drivers can choose whether to personally make deliveries and collections or arrange for other drivers to do them. We are unable to comment on an ongoing legal claim.’
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