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Maritime Employment Law Services
Specialist employment support for maritime businesses, built around the realities of operating at sea.
Recognised maritime expertise
Specialist legal advice from experienced and recognised maritime employment lawyers you can trust.
International employment support
Navigate cross-border employment, MLC, ITF and jurisdictional issues with confidence.
Commercial, practical guidance
Clear employment advice that protects operations, reduces risk and supports better decisions.
Employment at sea has an added layer of complexity compared to employment ashore.
The legal framework governing seafarers and their employers involves international conventions, flag state legislation, union agreements and a complex web of jurisdictional rules that does not always align neatly with UK domestic law.
Our maritime employment law team brings deep, sector-specific expertise to the unique challenges of employing merchant seafarers. We advise shipowners and operators across all sectors of the industry, providing commercially grounded legal support that reduces risk, manages disputes and keeps employment structures fit for purpose as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve.
Recognised expertise in maritime employment
Our team includes lawyers with established reputations in the maritime employment sector. Their experience spans seafarer employment agreements, MLC compliance, ITF action, collective bargaining, Employment Tribunal claims and the complex jurisdictional questions that arise in employment offshore.
Legal 500-ranked team
Omny Group is listed in The Legal 500 for Employment and Corporate and Commercial Law in the South East. Our maritime employment specialists operate within this team, supporting clients throughout the UK and worldwide, bringing the same standard of excellence to every maritime employment/employee relations matter.
Commercial and practical focus
Shipowners and operators need legal advice that works in the real world of vessel operations, international crewing and time-critical decisions. Our team understands the practicalities of the industry, not just the law. We give you clear assessments, practical options and decisive support, whether that means designing employment structures, negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, obtaining an injunction, supporting employment processes to limit risk, or managing a claim to conclusion.
Joint support across law, HR and safety
Of course, maritime employment does not exist in isolation. Our lawyers work alongside our wider employment law, HR and health and safety teams, which means the advice you receive on seafarer employment is informed by broader people and safety knowledge. This matters particularly as the regulatory obligations placed on operators continue to expand.
Trusted by
Ian Beaumont
Group CEO
Angie Crush
Head of Employment Law
Mike Kealey
Managing Director, Omny HR
Amanda Menahem
Group HR Director & Head of Omny Performance
Chris Halloran
Group Finance Director
Jonelle Wilkin
Group Head of Operations
Russell Corlett
Health & Safety Director
Lorraine Williams
Senior Legal Director
Paul Andrews
Director
Frequently asked questions
Does UK employment law apply to seafarers employed and/or working outside the UK?
It can, but the answer depends on which right is in question and on a detailed analysis of the factual matrix underlying the employment relationship. For Equality Act rights, the key test can be whether there is a sufficiently close connection between the employment and Great Britain. But if the employee is a seafarer there are specific regulatory provisions on jurisdiction, where the vessel’s flag and the seafarer’s nationality can be critical factors. For unfair dismissal, the Employment Tribunal will assess where the worker’s employment ‘base’ is located, taking into account factors such as where their work begins and ends, where their contract is administered, where they are recruited and where they are paid. These are factual questions that need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, and the case law has produced some results that may surprise employers who might assume their offshore workers will fall outside UK jurisdiction.