[Caleb Morley]

Alright Lads,

Has anyone got a contract or disclaimer for casual labour workers?

I want to protect myself in case someone makes a claim etc.

Cheers,

Caleb

info@lionsoflondon.co.uk

[Caleb Morley]

Anyone?

I feel like the geezer from Titanic in the lifeboat............ Is anyone alive out there?

[pdale]

Are you talking about the casual labourers ability to claim for personal injury? Or the customer claiming against you for their work?

You can't disclaim liability for either by law and if you did a court would ignore it, which is why you need insurance (if you haven't) even for casual labourers.

Should a customer sue you for damage he has caused to the property you have the right to sue him, but the customer would still be suing you in the first instance.

You can also disclaim certain things in your contract with him (late payments, bad work, etc). But I sense you are talking about covering yourself for his personal injury and/or a customer claim against you for damage to property.

[Caleb Morley]

Hi mate,

Thanks for your reply.

I have public liability insurance but I wanted to knock up some kind of job description or waiver that a casual labourer signs so in essence they cant sue me.

Any ideas?

Do I need another form of insurance against this kind of thing?

Cheers,

Caleb

[Ian Lancaster]

If you pay them you will be deemed to be their employer.  You can't avoid your responsibilities as their employer.  You will need to have Employers Liability insurance unless they are bona fide sub-contractors.

For instance: I ran a franchise filtering cooking oil in pubs/restaurants etc.  At one pub I needed assistance to get my filter machine up some steps to the kitchen.  The chef helped me but I had to take out an insurance in case he injured himself in the process even though he was not actually an 'employee' as I wasn't paying him - in this instance it was an extension to my Public Liability but if I had paid him for his help it would have had to have been Employers Liability.

[R.C Property]

there isnt anything you can do to put in about not suing you, if anything happens the court will just ingore it and carry on.

best way is to get a good casual worker that do anything wrong! or just make sure all your tools, ladders etc are all working well and in the best condition.

[richywilts]

ive got an employee contract you could use that you could alter to 0 hour contract

email me to richardwiltshire36@yahoo.co.uk

and i will forward it over

[pdale]

As is said above you need Employers Liability Insurance, which is a requirement by law irrespective of whether they work directly for you or work on a casual basis.

Getting them to sign something that they can't sue you for negligence isn't worth the paper it is written on, as mentioned above a court will just ignore it. You can get them to sign a waiver with regards to payment though, (for instance that a waiver that they cant sue you for interest on late payments, or that they can't sue you for their wages outright is another one, that you'd go the mediation route or something like that) ... but no labourer in their right mind would sign that.

But as for a waiver for negligence and personal injury there is nothing a court will take note of.

[Caleb Morley]

Thanks for the replies.

Anyone you would recommend for employers liability insurance?

Can it be rolled into my public liability to make premiums lower?

Cheers,

Caleb

[R.C Property]

Thanks for the replies.

Anyone you would recommend for employers liability insurance?

Can it be rolled into my public liability to make premiums lower?

Cheers,

Caleb

im with axa with my public liability, i have £5million, costing £120 a year, i asked them for a quote to do employers liability as i went for a contract that needed it even eho i didnt have anyone, and it was for £10million and the cost for the year would be around £400 a year! so dont expect much in lowering costs!

[Joe Martin]

Why don't you make your casual staff, self employed? Get them to Invoice you monthly and provided you are not instructing them or take any sort of instructions. So basically you give them the work they do it you don't need employers liability.
Also that way they have to get their own Insurance.

[pdale]

Be careful if you go the self employed sub contractors route as a court will look at more than taking instructions to class them as a bone fide sub contractor. Such as they generally should have their own tools, there own public liability insurance and not be paid an hourly rate, but a fixed price for a job.

If you are paying them an hourly rate and they are using your tools generally you will need employers liability insurance, irrespective of whether they are self employed or not, a court will just see the sub contractor status as a sham device and not find them bona fide sub contractors.

With that said even a bone fide sub contractor can sue you if you are negligent, so you still can't disclaim his right to sue.

[Caleb Morley]

Getting quotes today, will update later

Cheers,

Caleb