Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan:

There are precedents in other employment legislation. The National Minimum Wage Acts and the Employment Equality Acts have a wider definition of "employee" than the Organisation of Working Time Act. That definition follows the European Court of Justice, ECJ, definition, which is wide. There is no single definition at European level of an employee, but the definition that has been used in ECJ cases is similar to that in the National Minimum Wage Acts.