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M/s Vadhera Oil Company vs. The Presiding Officer, Labour Court Delhi and Anr.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:7619Decided 8 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 4091/2016CNR: DLHC011292372016
Justice Amit Mahajan

Background

A driver claimed he had worked for a small kerosene-trading firm since 2003 without an appointment letter, was denied back pay from 2008, and was eventually terminated in 2011 without notice. The Labour Court found an employer-employee relationship existed based on ID cards and other documents, ruled the termination illegal, and awarded him lump-sum compensation, but the company challenged this before the High Court, insisting he was only ever an occasional independent contractor.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held that the burden of proving an employer-employee relationship, and specifically 240 days of continuous work in the relevant year, rests squarely on the worker claiming it, and here the driver produced no wage slips or appointment letter. The Court found it telling that the delivery vehicle itself was financed in the driver's own name (implausible for a genuine employee) and that a suspicious "experience certificate" the driver relied on was expressly disowned by the company's witness, concluding the true relationship was one of occasional contractor engagement, not employment, and set aside the Labour Court's award.

Lesson Learnt

Workers claiming employee status (and its legal protections) must actually prove it with hard evidence like wage slips or appointment letters: informal documents like gate passes or ID cards alone are usually not enough if the employer disputes the relationship.

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