Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Embassy employment and state immunity: Court of Appeal (England and Wales) finds clerical roles not sovereign under SIA 1978 s 4; questions Ogbonna on s 5 and Aziz on waiver

Published on: 17 September 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert

Legal News

Article summary

The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia (Cultural Bureau) v Alhayali [2025] EWCA Civ 1162

What are the practical implications of this judgment?

The Court of Appeal has reaffirmed that diplomatic missions cannot, as a default position, rely on state immunity to fend off employment claims. The decisive consideration is the true nature of the worker’s role. Where tasks are routine, clerical and supportive, and do not satisfy the Benkharbouche standard of being ‘sufficiently close’ to the exercise of sovereign authority, the English courts retain jurisdiction over EU-derived employment claims.

Having resolved the SIA 1978, s 4 issue—reinstating the employment tribunal’s finding that the Embassy could not invoke state immunity under s 4 in respect of the claimant’s EU-derived employment claims, including discrimination—the court considered it unnecessary to determine the remaining appeal grounds on waiver of immunity and personal and/or psychiatric injury claims.

Nonetheless, in obiter comments, the court signalled reservations about earlier authorities on those matters, which practitioners should note:

the EAT’s decision in Ogbonna, which treated SIA 1978, ss 4 and 5 as distinct, free-standing exceptions to the general rule of state immunity, was, in the court’s view, incorrect...

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