The Court of Appeal has decided that that a former equity partner of a limited liability partnership (LLP) was not a worker and therefore was not eligible to bring a whistleblowing claim against the LLP. The effect of section 4(4) of the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2000 is that an LLP member who would have been a partner under a general partnership if it had not been registered as an LLP, cannot be an employee or a worker.

The Court of Appeal’s decision is significant for LLPs and LLP members alike. It confirms the previously untested proposition: that LLP members (and partners of general partnerships) do not benefit from the range of rights available to workers. This means that LLP members have no statutory protection, for example, if they “blow the whistle”; are not entitled to paid annual leave or to be auto-enrolled in a pension scheme. (Clyde & Co and another v Bates van Winkelhof [2012] EWCA Civ 1207.)