EAT Jurisdictional Points : Working Outside The Jurisdiction
RACE DISCRIMINATION – Inferring discrimination
A, who is British, was employed by R and in 2007 he was appointed as Chief Operating Officer for the UK. From September 2008 he was assigned to manage a programme in support of ‘small countries’ in the Group, of which R is part, which is based in France, and he was appointed ‘CEO ad interim’. On a group re-organisation in May 2009 A’s assignment was terminated and a German national was appointed to the permanent CEO position. There was no redeployment available for A who was made redundant. He complained of unfair dismissal and race discrimination. The appeal is only concerned with a single complaint of race discrimination.
Held, dismissing A’s appeal:
(1) The Employment Tribunal had no jurisdiction to consider A’s complaint of race discrimination. A’s original appointment to the CEO position was a temporary assignment. As for the subsequent appointment to the permanent position of CEO of the German national, the position would require residence in a country outside Great Britain and further the business of the company concerned was not the business of R at an establishment in Great Britain; accordingly it could not be said that the issue of A’s non-appointment to this permanent role could be ‘in relation to employment by [R] at an establishment in Great Britain’ (Race Relations Act 1976, s.4).
(2) The ET had considered the merits of the claim, if they were wrong on jurisdiction. The ET had correctly determined that the non-appointment of A to the permanent CEO position was not unlawful on grounds of nationality, and that there was, in any event, no basis on which R could be held liable for the non-appointment of A.
Supperstone J
[2012] UKEAT 0213 – 11 – 0404
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.452510
