The territorial scope of statutory employment rights

Produced in partnership with Edward Kemp of Matrix Chambers

Practice notes

The territorial scope of statutory employment rights

Produced in partnership with Edward Kemp of Matrix Chambers

Practice notes

This Practice Note examines the territorial application, Scope or reach of relevant applicable or mandatory law, ie how the courts and employment tribunals decide what statutory rights (if any) an employee who works abroad and/or has a foreign Employer has.

It has been updated to take account of the impact of Brexit and the end of the implementation period (IP) for the Withdrawal Agreement on IP completion day (11 pm on 31 December 2020) on this area of law.

This Practice Note contains references to case law of the CJEU. Broadly, EU judgments handed down on or before 31 December 2020 continue to be binding on UK courts and tribunals (even if the EU courts later depart from them) until the UK courts exercise their powers to diverge. For the most part, EU case law made after that date is not binding on the UK, although the UK courts and tribunals may continue to ‘have regard to’ EU judgments if relevant. For more detailed information on the treatment of EU case law, see Practice

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:

Scope definition

What does Scope mean?

The scope of works is a term which may be used generally in construction projects to describe the works that the contractor is expected to carry out. More specifically, ‘Scope’ is a defined term used in the NEC4 suite of contracts to specify and describe the work which the contractor is to undertake, together with any constraints on how it is to carry out such work. In the NEC3 suite of contracts, the term ‘works information’ wass used instead of Scope.

��ɫ��