PEARSON Solicitors have successfully represented 55 former workers of UK Salads LLP in a high-profile legal dispute against the UK government, securing a significant win for employee rights in the face of increasingly complex partnership schemes.

The workers, primarily employed as pickers and packers at a food processing facility in Roydon near Harlow, were originally staff members of UK Salads Limited. However, under a new internal arrangement, they were asked to sign documents purporting to make them partners in a newly created entity – UK Salads Partners LLP.

This arrangement was presented as a means to qualify for an annual Christmas bonus.

When the partnership entered liquidation in February 2024, the workers were made redundant. They applied to the government’s Insolvency Service for redundancy pay, unpaid wages, holiday pay, and notice pay—only to have their claims rejected on the basis that they were classified as “members” of an LLP not employees.

Alan Lewis of Pearson Solicitors led the legal action on their behalf. He argued that the partnership agreements were designed to obscure the workers’ true employment status and deprive them of statutory rights. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade contested the matter, and a hearing was scheduled before the East London Employment Tribunal on 21 May 2025.

However, just one day before the hearing, the Secretary of State conceded that all 55 claimants were, in fact, employees. This means they are now entitled to receive the full range of statutory payments through the Redundancy Payments Service.

Alan Lewis, Employment Law Partner at Pearson Solicitors, said: “Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon scenario. Many businesses adopt partnership or LLP structures to gain tax advantages. These arrangements often obscure genuine employment relationships, leaving workers vulnerable and stripped of basic rights.

A whole industry has developed around selling these schemes, involving complex documentation and supposed limited liability partnership agreements. This case is a clear example of how such tactics can be challenged and overturned. It’s a win not just for our clients, but for employment rights more broadly.”