Seafarer On Foreign Flag Vessel Has UK Unfair Dismissal Rights

In a landmark decision the UK Employment Appeal Tribunal

("EAT") has held that seafarers based in the UK who work

on non-UK flagged vessels will be able to claim unfair dismissal in

the UK where previously this would not have been possible. The EAT

allowed the claimant, living in Lowestoft, who worked on a Bahamas

registered vessel and was laid off (with a number of Polish

seafarers) in favour of non-EU crew who were less expensive, to

claim unfair dismissal against his Guernsey employer.

The right not to be dismissed unfairly is probably the most

important of a bundle of UK statutory employment protection rights.

More unfair dismissal claims are presented to UK employment

tribunals – about 44,500 in 2006 / 2007 – than

any other type of claim. The maximum compensatory award for unfair

dismissal is currently £66,200 (US$ 97,923).

Whilst it would be generally unusual for a seafarer on board a

non-UK flagged vessel to come within the scope of UK unfair

dismissal legislation, the EAT held that such seafarers

"based" in the UK can do so. This follows an earlier

extension of the legislation to UK based airline pilots, even if

their work was mainly outside the UK.

The present case concerned a ferry service operated between the

Channel Islands, France and the UK. The seafarer (who was a British

national) sailed from Portsmouth and returned to Portsmouth on a

daily basis. However, the reasoning of the EAT's decision is

not restricted to those facts.

Future claimants may include non-UK nationals based in the UK

working on non-UK flag vessels. Alternatively, some future

claimants may seek to stretch the concept of a UK "base"

to include working on non-UK vessels with less frequent visits to

the UK / less time spent in UK territorial waters.

For employers the judgment of the EAT underlines the importance

– even in the case of non-UK flagged vessels –

of having a "fair reason" for dismissal of UK based

seafarers and also following what a UK...