Overseas offices? UK law can still apply

12-Jul-2006

Q. My client's headquarters are in the UK but the company has many offices abroad. If an employee who is sent on an overseas placement experiences age discrimination, can they make a claim under the new UK law?

Most UK employers and recruiters know that age discrimination will be unlawful from 1 October and that there are no real exemptions.

What some may not realise is that where they or their clients have staff working in other countries, some of those staff may be able to bring age discrimination claims in the UK. As there will be no cap on compensation, an age discrimination claim in the UK could be an attractive option.

The option of making a claim in the UK is available to some employees despite the fact that the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 restrict protection to those employed "at an establishment in Great Britain". Those working wholly outside the UK will be protected if all the following conditions are met: their employer has a place of business in the UK; the employee's work is for the purposes of the UK place of business; and the employee is ordinarily resident in Great Britain either at the time he applies for or is offered the employment or at any time during the employment.

An example of this is if an individual is recruited in the UK for a UK company and sent to work in that company's Sydney office. Provided the work he does in Sydney is for the purposes of the UK business, he can rightly bring an age discrimination claim in the UK.

As a result, recruitment agents and their clients with employees based abroad should, as a minimum, inform their local managers of the existence of the law and brief them on the main implications, so that they know when to seek further guidance and from whom to get it. Likewise, agencies should also be aware that they will need to take the legislation into account when recruiting abroad for UK positions.

If an employer knows there are a number of employees in one office with the potential to claim, or perhaps that ageist banter is common in a particular office, more detailed training of local managers may be justified. As with other types of training, regular refreshers should be organised to keep the issue at the forefront of managers' minds.

It is also important to note that the same rules about bringing claims in the UK apply to the other types of unlawful discrimination, namely sex, race, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief. Any strategy to reduce the risk of age-related problems should also address these issues.

Recruitment agents and their clients cannot switch off from discrimination issues when dealing with the recruitment, or management of, employees working in other countries. The potential for these types of claims in the UK remains.

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