The tide is turning on employment law at sea. For decades, maritime employment seemed to be governed more by treaty than by specific national regulation. Increasingly, however, the UK has begun to take action – best demonstrated by the new “Seafarers’ Wages Act”, passed in response to recent well-documented controversies.

In this post, we examine the mix of UK and international maritime law to assess where UK law applies to seafarers, where it doesn’t, and the recent domestic developments that could change employers’ relationship to the sea.

Historically, a vessel’s flag was king. In other words, except when a vessel worked almost exclusively in UK territorial waters, the law of the flag state – not of the UK – generally applied. However, increasingly, parliament, the government and the courts are cracking down on what they see as unfair black holes in employment protections. What does all of this mean in practice, though, for a number of employment issues?

1. Unfair dismissal: Even if an employee is crewing a foreign-flagged vessel, if they are based in the UK (if their duty “begins and ends” here), UK unfair dismissal protections will apply.
2. Time off: Flag state law applies to time off. Note the Maritime Labor Convention, however (to which the UK and 97 other countries are parties), which requires ships flying the flag of any member state to offer at least 2.5 days per month of time off (roughly equivalent to UK domestic standards).
3. Wrongful dismissal: A contractual...

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