Groom (respondent) v Maritime & Coastguard Agency (appellant)

Описание: Wednesday 19 – Thursday 20 November 2025

Before Lord Justice Bean, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal, Civil Division
Lord Justice Popplewell
Lord Justice Stuart-Smith

The Maritime & Coastal Agency (MCA) appeals against the order sealed on 9 May 2024 made by Gavin Mansfield KC (sitting as Deputy Judge of the High Court) in the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) allowing grounds 1 and 2 of the C’s appeal against the decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET) that C was not a worker and dismissing C’s claim,

The EAT substituted its finding that C was not a worker in respect of attendance at a relevant activity for which he was entitled to remuneration.

The question of C’s worker status arose in the context of a claim for an alleged breach of the right to be accompanied to a disciplinary hearing. But the MCA submits that the consequences of the EAT’s decision are far-reaching in respect of statutory employment rights arising from the status of Coastguard Rescue Officers (who number about 3,100) and for volunteers more generally.

The MCA argues that the ET correctly determined that C was not a worker of the MCA, and that his role was non-contractual and purely voluntary.