A former Simmons & Simmons’ equity partner in Paris cannot bring claims in the UK for equal pay, discrimination and victimisation, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held.
Noro-Lanto Ravisy sought to claim for acts occurring in France in the employment tribunal on the basis she visited the London office every few months. She accepted these visits were ‘ad hoc, infrequent and generally short’, in Ravisy v Simmons & Simmons UKEAT/0085/18/OO.
Ravisy claimed the firm did not fairly allocate work to women and that she was subjected to forced retirement.
Simmons & Simmons dispute the claims.
The EAT held that a Paris partner could bring a claim in the tribunal in ‘exceptional’ cases, as the Brussels I Recast Regulations applied. In Ravisy’s case, however, Mr Justice Kerr said ‘the balance comes down firmly on the French side’.