»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp

An individual short-term engagement can be either a contract of employment or a contract for services (or some other contract). »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp fact that there is no obligation on the engager’s part to provide work beyond the individual engagement is neither here nor there.

In O’Kelly and Others v Trusthouse Forte plc [1984] 1 QB 90 (see ESM7100), casual catering staff were found to be self-employed. However, the O’Kelly case is certainly not authority for concluding that all casual staff are self-employed as it is sometimes claimed. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp employment status of a temporary worker was also considered by the Court of Appeal in the case of Secretary of State v McMeechan (see ESM7180). By contrast with the O’Kelly case, it decided that Mr McMeechan had been an employee even though the engagement only lasted for a very short period of time.