Both in person For the v Respondent — 2019

Mrs Webster brought claims in case 3327693/2017 alleging sex, race, age and disability discrimination and an unauthorised deduction from wages arising from her work as a local national direct hire at RAF Lakenheath. The hearing was a preliminary hearing on the correct identity of the respondent and whether the United States of America could rely on state immunity.

The tribunal held that the correct respondent was the United States of America, not USAFE, and that the respondent had not submitted to the Tribunal's jurisdiction. It further held that Part 1 of the State Immunity Act 1978 did not apply because the case concerned an employee of a visiting force, so the applicable question was the common law principle of state immunity.

On the facts, the tribunal found that Mrs Webster's records management role involved the maintenance, preservation, training on, inspection of and, where appropriate, destruction of US military records, which it treated as a governmental function of the United States. It held that litigating her discrimination and wages claims would require investigation into sovereign acts of a foreign state. The tribunal said that her British nationality, UK tax status and any uncertainty over appropriated or non-appropriated funding did not change that conclusion, and it dismissed the claim without considering the merits.