Case 2214171/2023 · Employment Tribunal
Princess Williams v British Broadcasting Corporation — 2024
- Case reference
- 2214171/2023
- Decision date
- 3 December 2024
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Representation
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Princess Williams
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant worked as a journalist for the BBC Pidgin Service and brought complaints of unfair constructive dismissal, sex discrimination and race discrimination against the British Broadcasting Corporation. The tribunal found that her contract was with BBC Nigeria Limited, a Nigerian company, and that she lived and worked wholly in Nigeria, was paid in Nigerian currency, and had contractual terms governed by Nigerian law.
The tribunal concluded that the respondent was not the claimant's employer, so the unfair dismissal complaint and the Equality Act complaints against the respondent as employer could not proceed. It also refused permission to amend the Equality Act claims to allege liability against the respondent as principal or otherwise than as employer.
On territorial jurisdiction, the tribunal found that the claimant had not established a sufficiently strong connection to Great Britain or British employment law. Her claim was therefore dismissed in its entirety because the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear it.
Claims and outcomes
3 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | The claim form indicated unfair constructive dismissal. The tribunal dismissed the unfair dismissal complaint because the respondent was not the claimant's employer and the tribunal had no jurisdiction. | Dismissed | — | — |
| Sex discrimination | The sex discrimination complaint under the Equality Act 2010 was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The tribunal also refused permission to amend the claim to advance Equality Act liability against the respondent otherwise than as employer. | Dismissed | Sex | — |
| Race discrimination | The race discrimination complaint under the Equality Act 2010 was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The tribunal also refused permission to amend the claim to advance Equality Act liability against the respondent otherwise than as employer. | Dismissed | Race | — |
Legal tests applied
17 references- balance of probabilities
- section 94 Employment Rights Act 1996
- section 95 Employment Rights Act 1996
- section 39 Equality Act 2010
- section 83 Equality Act 2010
- section 109 Equality Act 2010
- Lawson v Serco territorial scope principles
- sufficiently strong connection to Great Britain and British employment law
- Duncombe v Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
- Ravat v Halliburton Manufacturing Services Ltd
- Hottack v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- Jeffery v British Council; Green v SIG Trading Ltd
- Bamieh v Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Vaughan v Modality Partnership balance of injustice or hardship
- Selkent Bus Co Ltd v Moore amendment factors
- Kemeh v Ministry of Defence agency principles
- Unite the Union v Nailard agency principles
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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