The claimants wished to make employment law claims alleging, inter alia, that they had suffered racial discrimination and harassment, and had been paid less than the national minimum wage aganst the respondents. They had been assessed as having been subject to human trafficking. They appealed against dismissal of their claims under section 31 the 1964 Act, the respondents being Saudi diplomats. The EAT had rejected the claims to privilege.
Held: The appeal and cross appeal were rejected. The President of the EAT was right to uphold the respondents’ claim to immunity in answer to the claim made by Ms Reyes. The employment of a domestic servant was undertaking ‘professional or commercial activity within the exception. The international law obligations in relation to diplomatic immunity are not incompatible with article 6 of the ECHR. The ECHR must be interpreted so far as possible in conformity with other rules of international law . . on the true interpretation of article 31(1)(c) of the 1961 Convention, diplomatic immunity is not excluded in relation to claims for compensation by domestic workers who have been trafficked.
Lord Dyson MR, Arden, Llloyd Jones LJJ
[2015] EWCA Civ 32, [2016] 1 WLR 1785, [2016] 2 All ER 136, [2017] ICR 42, [2015] WLR(D) 75, [2015] IRLR 289, [2015] ICR 931
Bailii, WLRD
Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 31(1)(c), European Convention on Human Rights 6
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Fothergill v Monarch Airlines Ltd HL 10-Jul-1980
The plaintiff, on arriving at the airport found that his luggage had been lost. The defendant denied liability saying he had not notified his claim within the requisite period.
Held: Elementary justice requires that the rules by which the . .
Cited – Holland v Lampen-Wolfe HL 20-Jul-2000
The US established a base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, and provided educational services through its staff to staff families. The claimant a teacher employed at the base alleged that a report on her was defamatory. The defendant relied on state . .
Cited – McElhinney v Ireland; Al-Adsani v United Kingdom; Fogarty v United Kingdom ECHR 21-Nov-2001
Grand Chamber – The first applicant said he had been injured by a shot fired by a British soldier who had been carried for two miles into the Republic of Ireland, clinging to the applicant’s vehicle following an incident at a checkpoint.
Held: . .
Cited – Jones v Ministry of Interior for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and others HL 14-Jun-2006
The claimants said that they had been tortured by Saudi police when arrested on false charges. They sought damages, and appealed against an order denying jurisdiction over the defendants. They said that the allegation of torture allowed an exception . .
Cited – Rantsev v Cyprus And Russia ECHR 7-Jan-2010
A Russian woman, aged 20, had gone to work as an artiste in a cabaret in Cyprus. Three weeks later she was found dead in a street.
Held: The Court upheld her father’s complaint that Cyprus was in breach of article 4 in that its regime for the . .
Cited – Cudak v Lithuania ECHR 23-Mar-2010
Grand Chamber – The applicant alleged that there had been a violation of her right of access to a court, as guaranteed by Article 6-1 of the Convention.
The applicant was a secretary and switchboard operator employed in the Polish embassy in . .
Cited – Sabeh El Leil v France ECHR 29-Jun-2011
Grand Chamber – The applicant alleged that he had been deprived of his right of access to a court as a result of the immunity from jurisdiction upheld by the domestic courts.
This was a claim for unfair dismissal, brought before the French . .
Cited – Al-Dulimi and Montana Management Inc v Switzerland ECHR 23-Jul-2012
ECHR Information note – Article 6-1
Access to court
Sanctions imposed on applicants on basis of UN Security Council resolutions: communicated
The first applicant is an Iraqi national who lives . .
Cited – Nada v Switzerland ECHR 12-Sep-2012
Grand Chamber – Mr Nada alleged that the ban on entering or transiting through Switzerland, which had been imposed on him as a result of the addition of his name to the list annexed to the FederalTaliban Ordinance, had breached his right to liberty . .
Cited – Al-Dulimi and Montana Management Inc v Switzerland ECHR 26-Nov-2013
The applicants alleged, in particular, that the confiscation of their assets had been ordered in the absence of any procedure complying with Article 6 of the Convention.
Held: There had been a violation despite the fact that Switzerland was . .
Cited – Hounga v Allen and Another SC 30-Jul-2014
The appellant, of Nigerian origin had been brought here at the age of 14 with false identity papers, and was put to work caring for the respondent’s children. In 2008 she was dismissed and ejected from the house. She brought proceedings alleging . .
Cited – Tabion v Mufti 1996
(4th Circuit – United States) The appellant worked for two years as a domestic servant in the home of the respondent diplomats. The appellant brought proceedings claiming damages for breach of the terms of her contract of employment. In response to . .
Appeal from – Al-Malki and Another v Reyes and Another (Jurisdictional Points) EAT 4-Oct-2013
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS
Two domestic workers, employed one after the other by the First Respondent, a diplomat, and Second Respondent, his wife, (the appellants in this appeal) asserted they had been . .
Cited by:
At CA – Reyes v Al-Malki and Another SC 18-Oct-2017
The claimant alleged that she had been discrimated against in her work for the appellant, a member of the diplomatic staff at the Saudi Embassy in London. She now appealed against a decision that the respondent had diplomatic immunity.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, International, Human Rights, News
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.542264