Applicable law—which system of law applies to the contract or employment relationship

Produced in partnership with Edward Kemp of Matrix Chambers

Practice notes

Applicable law—which system of law applies to the contract or employment relationship

Produced in partnership with Edward Kemp of Matrix Chambers

Practice notes

This Practice Note examines how to determine which system of law is applicable to a Contract of employment or employment relationship. It takes account of the impact of Brexit and the end of the Implementation period (IP) for the Withdrawal agreement on IP completion day (11pm on 31 December 2020) on this area of law. For further details, see: Brexit impact, below.

Initial considerations

Where a dispute or claim arises in respect of an employee who works wholly or partly abroad and/or has a foreign employer, two questions will need to be determined:

•
what are the employee’s rights?
•
where should any litigation that may ultimately arise be adjudicated?

In determining these questions, three main issues arise:

•
applicable law, ie which system of law is applicable to the contract of employment under consideration?
•
international jurisdiction, ie whose courts and/or tribunals should decide the case?
•
the territorial scope of relevant applicable or mandatory law, ie how the courts and employment tribunals decide what statutory rights

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Edward Kemp

Barrister, Matrix Chambers

Edward has a broad cross-disciplinary practice in employment and equality, private international, human rights and commercial law. Edward is ranked as a leading junior in the following directories: (1) Legal 500 UK – tier 1 for employment; (2) Legal 500 EMEA – tier 1 for commercial disputes in the Middle East; (3) Chambers UK – for employment; (4) Chambers Global – expertise based abroad for DIFC and ADGM litigation in the United Arab Emirates. He was nominated for Employment Junior of the Year in the Legal 500 Awards 2020.

Edward is particularly sought after for challenging cases raising novel points of law and sensitive factual disputes requiring creative thinking and flexible advocacy skills. He is singled out for his exceptional legal ability having been consistently described as “extremely bright…always does a first class job” (Legal 500 2021), “extremely intelligent” (Legal 500 2018), “exceptionally talented” (Chambers and Partners 2013) and “one to watch” (Chambers and Partners 2016).

Edward has a strong practice as both a trial and appellate lawyer. He has been instructed as sole or leading counsel in many appellate cases in the EAT and the Court of Appeal. He has also been led twice in successful appeals before the Supreme Court, having appeared as counsel at every level of court and tribunal below. Edward also has experience of drafting applications before the European Court of Human Rights.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Contract of employment definition

What does Contract of employment mean?

The contract of employment which governs the employment relationship between the employer and the employee.

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