False Self Employed

False & Dependent Self-Employed

A‘ false self-employed worker’ means an individual who—

• performs for a person (‘other person’), under a contract (whether express or implied and if express, whether orally or in writing), the same activity or service as an employee of the other person,
• has a relationship of subordination in relation to the other person for the duration of the contractual relationship,
• is required to follow the instructions of the other person regarding the time, place and content of his or her work,
• does not share in the other person’s commercial risk,
• has no independence as regards the determination of the time schedule, place and manner of performing the tasks assigned to him or her, and
• for the duration of the contractual relationship, forms an integral part of the other person’s undertaking;

A ‘fully dependent self-employed worker’ means an individual—

• who performs services for another person (whether or not the person for whom the service is being performed is also an employer of employees) under a contract (whether express or implied, and if express, whether orally or in writing), and
• whose main income in respect of the performance of such services under contract is derived from not more than 2 persons;

Competition Act Not Applicable

The Competition Act provisions prohibiting agreements restrictive of trade shall not apply to collective bargaining and agreements in respect of a designated  category of false self-employed and dependent self employed workers..

A designated category of self-employed worker’ means  a class of worker specified below or  a class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self- employed worker specified in an order made by the Minister.

The initial specified categories of Self-employed Worker are

• actors engaged as voice-over actors
• musicians engaged as session musicians
• journalists engaged as freelance journalists”.

Designation of Further Categories

A trade union which represents a class of—

• false self-employed worker, or
• fully dependent self-employed worker,

may, for the purposes of collective bargaining and agreements on behalf of the class of worker so represented, apply to the Minister  to prescribe such class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self-employed worker.

Designation of Further Categories

An application by a trade union  shall be made in the manner specified by the Minister and shall be accompanied by evidence to show

that the class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self-employed worker, as the case may be, the subject of the application, falls within the definition of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self-employed worker, as the case may be, and

that the prescribing of such class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self-employed worker, as the case may be—

• will have no or minimal economic effect on the market in which the class of self-employed worker concerned operates,
• will not lead to or result in significant costs to the State, and
• will not otherwise contravene the requirements of this Act or any other enactment or rule of law (including the law in relation to the European Union) relating to the prohibition on the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition in trade in any goods or services.

Where, in relation to an application the Minister is satisfied  of the matters referred to  and that it is appropriate to do so, he or she may prescribe by order the class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self-employed worker, as the case may be, as a relevant category of self-employed worker.

Change in Designation

Where a class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self- employed worker has been prescribed by the Minister under this section and, since the making of the order—

• the market conditions or circumstances which pertained to the making of that order have changed substantially, or
• new information relevant to the application which was the subject of the order becomes available to the Minister,

the Minister may, if he or she is of the opinion that it is no longer appropriate for the class of false self-employed worker or fully dependent self-employed worker concerned to be so prescribed, revoke the prescription of the relevant category of self-employed worker by order.