The Pantomime Theatre Case: Slights & Others v Crossroads Pantomime & Others

A landmark case has been won by Equity, the British Actors' Union

The Employment Tribunal has ruled that the pantomime performers were workers. This means that the Claimants (and perhaps others in similar situations) are entitled to holiday pay from their employer.

Crossroads Pantomimes is the largest pantomime production company in the world. It wasarguing that the Claimants’ were self-employed and not workers, which is also what was written intheir contracts.

The legal issue considered in this case was: are the Claimants ‘limb “b” workers’?

The main focus was on the client/customer categorisation. If Crossroads was a client or a customer receiving services from the Claimants, the Claimants would be self-employed and not workers. The relationship would be on a more equal footing and not one of subordination and dependency. Judge Norris decided that as far as the Claimants are concerned Crossroads was not a client or a customer of the Claimants, and therefore the Claimants were workers as defined under limb b of section 230(3) of the Act - they are limb “b” workers. The reasoning for this is found in the nature of pantomime theatre and how this industry specific employment relationship works in practice.

Judge Norris said: ‘…it is entirely unrealistic to suggest that the Respondents [the pantomime company]… are the ‘client or customer’ of the Claimants’