The Claimant was an officer in the Army Reserves (formally known as the Territorial Army). Following his retirement from military service in 2019, he presented a claim form to the ET in which he made complaints under the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations, 2000 (“PTWR”) and relative Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 (“PTWD”). He complained that, as a part time reservist, (a) his military service prior to 1 April 2015 was disregarded for pension purposes and he was thereby treated less favourably than full-time regular members of the Army; and (b) his daily rate of pay was not equivalent pro rata to that paid to regulars. The ET concluded that the complaints succeeded on their merits. The Respondent appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. (1) The ET had carefully evaluated all aspects of the relationship between the Claimant and the Respondent. Its conclusion that he was a “worker” for the purposes of the PTWD and PTWR disclosed no error of law and was not plainly wrong; (2) The Tribunal’s conclusion that the daily rate of pay received by the claimant was less favourable than the rate paid to regulars was open to it on the evidence; and (3) The Tribunal’s conclusions that both the rate of pay and the disregarding of the claimant’s service prior to 1 April 2015 were each solely “on the ground of” his part-time status as a reservist were neither perverse nor wrong in law.