EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS
By a Treaty of 1960, the UK constituted the island of Cyprus an independent state, but retained two areas of the Island as military base areas (the Sovereign Base Areas – ‘SBAs’). Civilians who were dependents of service personnel or civil servants accompanying the Armed Forces in the SBAs engaged while in Cyprus as employees of the MOD complained to an ET in the UK that the terms of other civilians also engaged locally were better, and that this was discriminatory on the grounds of national origin or marital status. The ET had jurisdiction only if the territorial reach of the Equality Act 2010 encompassed the Claimants. An EJ held it did, since the connection with the UK and UK law was sufficiently close for this to be the case. In doing so, she considered that English law applied to the contracts of employment the Claimants had agreed with the MOD. This was held in error, since the law of the SBAs was that which applied (although one effect of this was that it many respects it adopted principles of or familiar to English Law), and it invalidated her overall conclusion. In particular, she had not been shown the authorities which made it clear that the Crown in relation to a British Overseas Territory such as an SBA was the Crown acting in right of the BOT, and not in right of the UK. Had she been, she would not necessarily have concluded as she did as to the strength of the connection between the Claimants and UK law. The question of the territorial reach of the Equality Act was remitted for fresh determination by the same judge.
Langstaff P J
[2015] UKEAT 0396 – 14 – 2807
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment, Jurisdiction
Updated: 03 January 2022; Ref: scu.550674
