UK: Is a member of a limited liability partnership a 'worker'?

Today the Supreme Court will hear argument in Clyde & Co LLP v Winkelhof. The issue before the court, to quote directly from its summary of the case, is "[w]hether a member of a limited liability partnership is a worker within the meaning of section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and is therefore within the category of persons protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and permitted to bring a whistleblowing claim".

The hearing will be broadcast live by Sky News as part of its Supreme Court Live service. When the Court of Appeal heard the case in 2012, it held that a partner of a limited liability partnership, who if it had not been registered as a LLP would have been a partner in a partnership under the Partnership Act 1890, was not a 'worker' under section 230(3): see [2012] EWCA Civ 1207.