Agency Drivers Network, an employment agency that supplies drivers for the Co-op supermarkets, is facing legal action over allegations of “bogus self-employment” practices, reports the Retail Gazette. The legal action is being brought on by Unite, a UK and Irish trade union. Unite wants to take Agency Drivers Network to an employment tribunal over allegations that drivers set up their own limited company and refers workers to an accountant so they can operate under a “bogus self-employed” model to avoid agency workers regulations and holiday pay, statutory sick pay and minimum pension payments. The union states that drivers affected were receiving nearly £3 an hour less than directly-employed drivers at the Co-op.

“This model is a cruel ruse by penny pinching bosses and further evidence of how exploitative working practices are mutating under the guise of the so called gig economy,” Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said. Unite expects to lodge employment tribunal claims in a few weeks. Meanwhile, Co-op commented, ““As we don’t pay the drivers directly, it would be wrong for us to intervene in the remuneration package, which has been agreed between ADR and its agency drivers.”