§ Mr. Bishopasked the Minister of Labour if he is aware of the concern arising from the practice of some firms employing self-employed workers in design and technical offices, thereby circumventing the purpose of the Redundancy Payments and Contracts of Employment Acts and established conditions relating to payment for sickness, periods of notice, redundancy and holidays, whilst keeping technically within the law; if he will take steps to prevent this; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GunterI would deprecate any attempt to deprive employees of rights against their will by these means. For the purposes of the Redundancy Payments and Contracts of Employment Acts the question whether or not a person was in fact self-employed at law could only be finally decided by an industrial tribunal or a court of law when a claim arose.