DIGGINS V CONDOR MARINE CREWING SERVICES LTD

[2009] UKEAT 0083_08_0202, Employment Appeal Tribunal, HH Judge Burke QC, 2 February 2009

Employment of seafarers – Jurisdiction – Unfair dismissal claim – Mariner living in the UK and working on a ship plying daily to a foreign port – Mariner leaving from and returning to UK port each working day – Foreign-registered ship – Jurisdiction of the Employment Tribunal in the UK to hear unfair dismissal claim – section 199, Employments Rights Act 1996

Mr Diggins was employed by the respondents, a Guernsey corporation, as chief officer on a vessel registered in the Bahamas and plying between Portsmouth and the Channel Islands. He lived in Portsmouth and joined and left the vessel in Portsmouth each working day. A claim for unfair dismissal by Mr Diggens was dismissed by the Employment Tribunal on the basis that he could not bring himself within section 199(7) of the 1996 Act.