The UK’s Royal Mail is being sued for classifying delivery drivers as self-employed which enables it to avoid paying sick pay and the minimum wage. The Royal Mail drivers allege that the practice also means Parcelforce (the company’s parcel delivery subsidiary) make them pay fines when they call in sick.

In many ways, the case mirrors legal challenges against Uber’s employment model which resulted in a UK court ruling requiring Uber to categorise its drivers as workers, providing minimum wage and benefits. At the time, Jamie Heywood, Uber Technologies Inc.’s Northern Europe chief, told Forbes that other ride-hailing companies in the UK need to recognise their drivers as workers.

The delivery drivers’ case,is being handled by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and the solicitor Leigh Day.

The IWGB was founded in 2012 by Latin American cleaners fighting for better working conditions but now represents thousands of outsourced facilities staff and gig economy workers including couriers, cycling instructors, charity workers, yoga teachers, cleaners, security officers, video game workers, nannies, university workers, foster carers, private hire drivers and more.

Leigh Day estimates there are between 2,000 and 4,000 “owner drivers” at Parcelforce who could be entitled to compensation. A spokesperson for the law firm said, “Often, these drivers have worked for Royal Mail for many years and seen their working conditions steadily decline. Yet, as they are classified as self-employed contractors, they are denied their basic workers’ rights.”

Despite being classed as self-employed, owner drivers do not have control over the days they work, the hours they or even the route they take  which is determined by the company’s ‘Route Excellence’ computer system. Owner drivers agree individual parcel rates with Parcelforce in their contracts which means that some workers regularly fail to make the minimum wage after deducting his costs.

A Parcelforce spokesperson said: “All of our owner drivers are self-employed and we refute any claims that this is not the case. Our self-employed drivers play a valuable role in delivering parcels in the UK and are free to provide their services to other businesses. Our owner drivers can choose whether to personally make deliveries and collections or arrange for other drivers to do them. We are unable to comment on an ongoing legal claim.”