There is a distinct difference from being employed as a pilot but differently being employed in a non piloting role but piloting (chauffeuring) the employer as and when required. There are probably hundreds of PPL's operating in this way quite legally
Not sure I agree on numbers - most people in this position I know have commercial licenses, just no AOCs. But.......So I am employed as a secretary but actually fly the CEO round in a 135
Legal or illegal? I am paid as a secretary not as a pilot. You can ask if I can actually type. You can ask how many hours I am a secretary and how many I am a pilot. You can ask how I pay for my training and how I pay a contribution to hours flown. You can ask what a coincidence it is that the secretary turns out after appointment to be able to fly the very aircraft the CEO has bought. You can dress this up however you like but if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck it is.....a duck
I am amazed at the complacency of some in the industry to allow standards to be lowered like this. And one day the holes in the Swiss cheese will line up - the commander's license type may well be irrelevant to the accident but the whole mess will unravel.