Sovereign and diplomatic immunity can create real difficulties for embassy or high commission personnel seeking to bring complaints before English Employment Tribunals (ETs). As one case showed, however, they are not insurmountable.
The case concerned a woman who held an administrative or technical post at the Nigerian High Commission in London. After she lodged ET proceedings, her claims that she had been victimised and suffered sex and religious discrimination were upheld. She was awarded £70,747 in compensation. The Commission challenged that outcome.
Ruling on the matter, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) found that, although the Commission was identified as the woman’s employer on her appointment letter, it was not a corporate or legal entity that was capable of being sued.
That was not fatal to her claim, however, in that suing the Commission was tantamount to suing the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Commission was the manifestation of the state of Nigeria in the UK and her claim against the Commission was, in substance, to be treated as a claim against Nigeria. The latter had been properly served with the proceedings via diplomatic channels.
In upholding the Commission’s appeal, however, the EAT noted that, in its decision, the ET gave no details of the woman’s role at the Commission. It failed to consider whether her job was purely private or whether it involved diplomatic functions of an inherently sovereign or governmental nature. If the latter were the case, sovereign immunity would apply and her claim was bound to fail. That issue alone was sent back to the same ET for reconsideration.