A Shift In The Boundaries Of State Immunity

A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has significantly reduced the scope for embassies and high commissions to claim immunity in relation to claims brought by their locally engaged staff in the UK. This will have important implications for how such employees are treated in the future.

Embassies and high commissions have generally been immune from the jurisdiction of the courts and tribunals in UK, as representatives of foreign sovereign states. In particular, employment tribunals in the UK did not have jurisdiction to consider claims brought by locally engaged staff of embassies and high commissions unless such claims involved some form of personal injury to the member of staff. The decision in Benkharbouche v Embassy of the Republic of Sudan and another case has fundamentally altered this position.