Claimant v Saipem Ltd — 2023

Employment Judge J M Hendry held that Mr R Skeffington's holiday-pay claim and his rest-period claim under the Working Time Regulations could not be entertained because the WTR extend to Great Britain only, while his employment was on the Azerbaijan-flagged SCV Khankendi in Azerbaijan waters. The judgment accepted that he was a British national based in Aberdeen, paid through UK systems and managed from the Aberdeen office, but found those connections did not bring the WTR claims within the Tribunal's territorial jurisdiction. The judge referred to Ravat v Halliburton, the Bleuse principle, Dhunna v Creditsights and Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG, and said the Maritime Labour Convention and the 2022 regulations did not give the claimant a freestanding route to bring the claims.

The separate claim for non-payment for attending Covid test appointments was dismissed because it had already been pursued in case 4100001/2023, which the claimant withdrew and which was dismissed on 14 April 2023. The tribunal held that the earlier dismissal barred the claim from being re-raised as res judicata under Rule 52, and it also held the claim was out of time because the last alleged non-payment arose by May 2022 and the present claim was not presented until 15 June 2023. In considering whether the Covid-test issue formed part of a series of deductions, the judge referred to Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew but held the Covid-test claim was substantially different from the holiday-pay claim. For completeness, the judgment said any claim for unpaid wages arising before 15 January 2021 would in any event be barred by the Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014.