Gym Group stretches “self-employment” status to breaking point
17 November 2017
Personal Trainer contracts
Gym Group's response (pdf, 678KB) disputes most of the factors identified by the Committee as being incompatible with a classification of self-employed, yet offers little or no answer to these points other than to continually restate that the Group's Personal Trainers are "self-employed".
Gym Group's response mentions that "over the course of 2017 we have therefore been working on a new model" for its Personal Trainers "with the intention of announcing changes next year".
The Committee has now also received a copy of a 10th November letter from Gym Group to its Personal Trainers (pdf, 318KB), setting out some new options for models of working.
'Justice for ordinary, hard-working people'
Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair of the Committee, said:
"This is just one instance that shows everything that's wrong with the gig economy. You can call your workers "self-employed" as many times as you like: it does not make it so.
The contract, and a raft of emails from management we have also seen, show the multiple ways that Gym Group's personal trainers are expected to behave as employees - yet they get none of the benefits, entitlements or security that should come with that.
The company really is stretching the designation of self-employment to breaking point and beyond.
While the hasty measures the company is apparently now taking to rectify this are welcome, it should not take a select committee acting on a whistle-blower's evidence to get companies to comply with the law.
How many more companies out there, foisting this bogus status of self-employment onto workers to shirk their responsibilities?
On Monday we are publishing a Bill that would end this exploitation by bad business, level the playing field for good business, and achieve justice for ordinary, hard-working people."
Further information
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