Short answer
Irish law distinguishes a contract of service—employment—from a contract for services—independent contracting—by examining the real relationship, not its label. After , the decision-maker asks whether there is remuneration for work, personal service and sufficient control; then considers all circumstances and the particular legislation. Substitution, entrepreneurial risk, integration, equipment and actual practice help reveal whether the worker is in business on their own account.
“Worker” is not one universal intermediate Irish category. Its meaning depends on the Act, while EU law sometimes uses an autonomous worker concept regardless of domestic labels. Agency workers have a statutory triangular relationship with an employment agency and hirer. Holding an office—such as a company directorship or statutory post—does not itself prove employment, though the same person may also have a contract of service or be deemed an employee by a specific Act.
Platform work uses the same facts-first analysis, including algorithmic control. Directive (EU) 2024/2831 will require a rebuttable employment presumption where facts indicate direction and control, but Ireland's transposition deadline is 2 December 2026. As of this review, the existing Irish and EU tests remain central and any new Irish implementing measure should be checked before relying on the future presumption.
Karshan supplies the domestic framework
Karshan concerned Domino's delivery drivers and tax legislation, but its five-step framework is the leading general method. First, does the arrangement exchange work for wages or other remuneration? Second, must the individual provide their own services rather than send an unrestricted substitute? Third, does the putative employer exercise control consistent with employment? If any gateway is absent, a contract of service will normally not exist.
If the gateways are satisfied, the fourth step considers the contract and relationship as a whole. Relevant facts include who sets price, tasks, time and place; integration into the business; ability to work for others; ownership of equipment; hiring helpers; exposure to loss; opportunity for profit through managerial skill; and the parties' conduct. No factor automatically decides the case. A limited substitution right may coexist with personal service, while a genuine, broad power to provide another qualified person points away from employment.
Fifth, the decision-maker asks whether the statute in issue changes or supplements the analysis. A tax definition, employment-rights enactment and social-insurance provision may have different scope. Karshan also rejects the idea that “mutuality of obligation” requires an overarching promise of continuous future work in every case. Each accepted shift or assignment can itself contain the necessary work-for-remuneration exchange.
Contract wording matters but cannot disguise reality
Calling someone an “independent contractor”, requiring VAT invoices or paying without PAYE is evidence of the parties' arrangement, not a legal conclusion. A tribunal compares written terms with performance. A substitution clause never used and practically controlled by the business may carry little weight. Control can be exercised through app design, ratings, route allocation, price-setting, performance metrics, account suspension and access to future tasks as well as direct supervision.
A genuine contractor normally controls how the service is delivered, markets to multiple clients, quotes for work, supplies significant equipment, can organise helpers, bears correction and commercial risk, and can increase profit through management. Not every contractor has all those features, and dependence on one client is relevant without being decisive.
The official applies Karshan and provides practical indicators. It is guidance, not a substitute for the legislation and facts.
“Employee” and “worker” depend on the legal question
Many Irish employment statutes protect an “employee” working under a contract of employment, but individual definitions may include apprentices, agency arrangements, public servants or contracts to perform work personally. Other Acts use “worker” more broadly for industrial relations, protected disclosures, safety or equality. A person excluded from one remedy is not automatically excluded from every labour protection.
EU law uses an autonomous definition where uniform application of an EU measure requires it. Under the Lawrie-Blum line, the essential feature is that a person performs services for and under the direction of another for a period in return for remuneration. The work can be part-time, intermittent or low-paid. A formally self-employed person remains an EU worker if their independence is fictitious; a genuinely autonomous provider bearing commercial risk is not.
The exact EU instrument still controls. Working-time, equality, free-movement and collective-redundancy rules do not necessarily use identical scope. National courts must consider CJEU authority and cannot let a domestic label defeat an autonomous EU protection.
Agency work is a triangular statutory relationship
The Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012 covers an individual employed by an agency under a contract permitting assignment to work under a hirer's direction and supervision. Its definition of contract of employment includes both a contract of service and a contract with an agency to do work for another, so its protection is deliberately tailored to agency arrangements.
During an assignment, section 6 provides that the agency worker is:
“entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions”
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The comparison is with direct employment by the hirer on the same or similar work. Basic conditions include pay, working time, rest, night work, overtime, annual leave and public holidays, subject to statutory rules and any valid approved collective arrangement. The agency generally carries employer obligations; the hirer directs the assignment, must provide information and owes specified equal-access and anti-penalisation duties. Anti-avoidance rules can aggregate artificial series of assignments.
An outsourced service is not automatically agency work. The practical question is whether the supplier genuinely manages a service or instead supplies individuals to work temporarily under the customer's supervision and direction.
An office-holder may or may not also be an employee
An office derives from a constitution, statute, corporate instrument or appointment and carries duties attached to the position. A director, elected representative, statutory board member or constitutional office-holder is not an employee merely because they receive remuneration. Ask separately whether a contract of service exists, applying control and the whole relationship, and whether the relevant Act expressly deems the office-holder an employee.
A company director can therefore hold office and work as an employee under a separate service agreement. Conversely, a non-executive director receiving fees and exercising independent governance functions may only hold office. Public-service legislation frequently contains special deeming rules; the Agency Work Act, for example, deems specified State and local-authority office-holders employees for that Act. Taxing office emoluments under employment income rules does not by itself create employment-rights status.
Platform work: present Irish test and forthcoming EU presumption
Directive (EU) 2024/2831 requires status to be guided primarily by actual performance, including automated monitoring and decision systems, regardless of contractual designation:
“irrespective of how the relationship is designated in any contractual arrangement”
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Article 5 requires a rebuttable employment presumption where facts indicating direction and control are found under national law, collective agreements or practice, taking account of CJEU case law. The platform bears the burden of rebuttal. The presumption must apply in relevant status proceedings, but need not apply to tax, criminal or social-security proceedings unless national law extends it. For existing relationships, it applies only to periods from 2 December 2026.
The Directive also creates algorithmic-management, transparency and data protections, some extending to persons performing platform work without employee status. Member States must transpose it by 2 December 2026. A directive does not, before implementation and against a private platform, simply replace Karshan. Irish transposition may specify procedure, competent bodies and national interaction, so current implementing measures must be checked after the deadline.
Different authorities decide different consequences
Revenue determines status for tax, the Department of Social Protection for PRSI, and the Workplace Relations Commission or courts for employment rights. Their decisions address different statutes and are not automatically binding on each other, although the same facts and Karshan framework are highly relevant. Misclassification can produce back tax and PRSI, interest, penalties, wage and leave claims, unfair-dismissal jurisdiction and record-keeping consequences.
An individual should preserve the contract, app terms, rosters, invoices, messages, substitution practice, pricing rules, equipment costs, insurance, performance controls and termination history. The business should document actual autonomy rather than rely on boilerplate. Agency, platform and intermediary structures require mapping who recruits, pays, directs, disciplines and bears commercial risk.
Conclusion
Irish status law asks what the person actually does, for whom and under whose control. Karshan provides a disciplined route from remuneration, personal service and control to the full economic reality and statutory context. Agency and office-holder rules can alter the result for a particular Act, while EU law supplies autonomous concepts and an imminent platform presumption. The label chosen by the contract is relevant evidence, never the final answer.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.