When is a director an employee?

Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Neufeld [2009] All ER (D) 40 (Apr); NLJ 15 May p687

The president of the Employment Tribunals had issued a practice direction staying all similar cases before the tribunals in anticipation of the hearing of this appeal concerning when a majority shareholder or director or both of a company that has become insolvent and claimed to have been an ‘employee claims’ and thus entitled to claim certain unpaid amounts from the Secretary of State under the Employment Relations Act 1996, s182. In 2008, there were some 12,000 claims by directors on the National Insurance Fund, of which some 600 had gone or were expected to go to Employment Tribunals. In a comprehensive judgment Rimer LJ confirmed the guidance given in Clark v Clark Construction Initiatives Ltd [2008] IRLR 364, EAT, subject to: