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Overseas workers - ground-breaking cases – changing the law
09 May 2006
Collins and others v United Airlines
In this case four pregnant flight attendants were suspended without pay after, following medical advice, they refused to work on long haul flights. United Airlines denied these women their basic maternity rights on the basis that they were employed under US law.
We demonstrated to the employment tribunal that our clients were in fact based in the UK, at London Heathrow airport, and that therefore, they should be protected by UK discrimination law.
As a result, the tribunal not only decided that the women had been victims of unlawful sex discrimination, but in doing so, widened the territorial scope of employment rights for many other foreign employees working in the UK.
Turner v Grovit
Our firm brought a successful injunction against legal proceedings brought by a Spanish group company of a business operating in the UK against an employee following his resignation claiming constructive dismissal.
Although the company challenged the injunction in the Court of Appeal, we succeeded in having it upheld, on the basis that the Spanish proceedings were an abuse of process.
The outcome has substantial implications for individuals required to work abroad by their company, meaning that their contracts can be assigned to English legal jurisdiction and foreign proceedings can be prevented from taking place if they are considered an abuse of process.
B Clarke - House of Lords Extends UK Employment Law to Overseas Workers