Overseas Workers

Do employees employed overseas have the right to make a claim for unfair dismissal in The Employment Tribunal?

Employment Rights Act 1996 formerly spelled out that an employee whose work is ordinarily outside Great Britain is not normally entitled to unfair dismissal rights. This section was repealed with effect from 25th October 1999.   Since this date, there have been various cases including catering staff on ships and airline personnel, which have tested the situation.

After a variety of sometimes inconsistent decisions in the Courts, the House of Lords provided guidance on how to resolve the question posed above.

Each case is likely to be different, and dependant on the facts, the guidance given by the House of Lords establishes that the correct test is not simply to ask whether the employment is in Great Britain, but rather depends on whether the employment relationship is sufficiently closely connected with Great Britain.    The House of Lords gave an example, being a foreign correspondent on the permanent staff of a British newspaper, posted to Rome or Peking, who might have been living for years in Italy or China and whose employment would therefore not be within Great Britain – the Court suggested that if unfairly dismissed, he would be able to bring a British employment tribunal claim.

More recently the above line has been followed where a business operating in the UK, that posted an employee overseas as it’s representative, was able to make an unfair dismissal claim. Equally employees working for a business conducted in a foreign country which belongs to British owners, or is a branch of a British business, will be unlikely to be permitted to bring a claim for unfair dismissal in Great Britain.