Cross-border, international and jurisdictional issues

Employee working wholly or partly abroad

Where a dispute or claim arises in respect of an employee who works wholly or partly abroad and/or has a foreign employer, two questions will need to be determined:

1. •

   what are the employee’s rights?

2. •

   where should any litigation that may ultimately arise be adjudicated?

In determining these questions, three main issues arise:

1. •

   applicable law, ie which system of law is applicable to the contract of employment under consideration?

2. •

   international jurisdiction, ie whose courts and/or tribunals should decide the case?

3. •

   the territorial scope of relevant applicable or mandatory law, ie how the courts and employment tribunals decide what statutory rights (if any) the employee has

   1. ◦

      purely domestic law rights, and

   2. ◦

      rights derived from EU law

EU-derived laws applicable in the UK are assimilated law. For further information, see Practice Note: Assimilated law.

It is important to understand that the applicable law and jurisdiction are two fundamentally different...