Jump to:
Recent events in the Middle East may be presenting a range of challenges for UK employers. Airspace closures across large swathes of the region have left thousands of flights cancelled and more than 100,000 British citizens stranded, some in areas facing significant personal danger. With the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advising against travel to a number of countries, employers face practical challenges including managing risks to stranded employees or those with family in affected areas, providing appropriate support to those distressed by events, and addressing potential workplace conflict. They must also handle the implications of travel disruption for pay, holiday and attendance. Employers also need to be aware that steps employees may take to adapt to the situation – such as working from a different jurisdiction – may have legal implications.
Employment
If you are an employer with employees based in the Middle East, or you have employees who are travelling or on holiday or due to be on holiday in the region, recent events raise some important employment law considerations that you need to be aware of and take steps to manage.
Employees who live and work long-term in the region
If you have employees who are based in the Middle East on a long-term basis, whether as expatriates or local hires, you will have specific legal obligations on issues such as pay and health and safety. Depending on the contractual arrangements in place with these employees, these issues may be governed by local law as well as the terms of the employment contract. However, as a matter of good practice, you should review your emergency and evacuation procedures and consider what support can be offered to employees and their families. Specific practical steps that can be taken are set out below.
You should also be mindful of ensuring a coordinated and aligned approach for how you address your international staff in the region and your local staff to ensure that local staff feel equally supported during this difficult period.
Employees temporarily in the region
Employees who are travelling in the region are likely to fall into two groups: employees who are on annual leave, or those travelling for business on your behalf.
A common question is whether employees who were due to return to work but are unable to do so are entitled to be paid during this absence. If the employee can work remotely from their location abroad, they will be entitled to their usual pay (although note the risks from a global mobility perspective, addressed below).
Employers should bear in mind that employees stranded in the Middle East may face disrupted internet access and other practical difficulties in working remotely, particularly as infrastructure across the region has been affected. Also, practically and financially, these individuals may be offered limited assistance from their travel insurers as events like these may be excluded from cover.
If the employee can’t work remotely, there’s no legal entitlement to pay, unless the employment contract or policy gives that right in these circumstances; this is because the employee is “not able and willing to work”. However, when employees are facing costly extended hotel stays and expensive flights, it would be good practice to try to talk to them and discuss the options, including whether it’s possible for them to take additional holiday from their annual leave entitlement to cover this period.
For employees who were undertaking business travel and remain in the region, it would be advisable to continue paying their usual pay. Even if this is not strictly required under the contract or a relevant policy, the employee will have a reasonable expectation of payment and is likely to feel aggrieved if they are in this situation due to work and then have their pay stopped.
Employees who were planning to travel to the region
Employees who had planned holidays in the region may well want to reschedule their holiday until such time as the security concerns have settled. British citizens should always follow the guidance issued by the FCDO (not least because failure to comply with it could invalidate their travel insurance) as well as advice from local authorities in the region. At present, most countries in the region have some form of FCDO restricted guidance on travel.
That said, you may have already factored someone’s absence into staffing arrangements and shift allocations. If so, there may be a justifiable reluctance to allow an employee to cancel leave at short notice. Where do employers stand on this? Employees do not have a unilateral right to cancel and reschedule holidays once booked and approved, apart from in cases of sickness/family leave or as set out in the employment contract. This means that you could insist that an employee still takes their leave, even if they are unable to travel as planned. However, this approach may seem unattractive.
It would be useful to establish some guideline principles on how rescheduling requests will be dealt with to ensure that discretion is exercised fairly and consistently. Given the uncertainty as to when the situation will be resolved and normal travel patterns can resume, you may wish to be flexible in permitting employees to reschedule booked leave.
For employees who were due to be assigned to the region by their employer, it would be prudent to carefully consider whether these moves may need to be paused until such time as the region stabilises and the security risk can be managed, and, if not, consider what additional support needs to be afforded to these employees during their assignment transition e.g. will there be delays in shipping their items to the region, employees may wish to initially travel alone, with their family joining later.
Supporting all employees and addressing conflict in the workplace
The situation in the Middle East is very distressing for many people and has the potential to cause conflict in the workplace between those with different nationalities, views or religions. You should consider ways to support all employees who feel affected by the events and be prepared to deal with workplace tensions. This could include reminding staff of policies on bullying and harassment and being prepared to deal with conflicts appropriately, including taking disciplinary action if necessary. Other ways you can support employees in the workplace are set out below.
Practical tips
- British citizens should register with the government via this link to confirm their presence in the relevant country and request assistance. There is also a phone number to call, if easier: +44 20 7008 5000. We understand the government is trying to plan the evacuation of those stranded in the Middle East though no specific details have been announced yet. The employee should register with the FDCO as soon as possible and contact the consulate in the relevant country to request assistance.
- Ensure that you know exactly where all employees are, including details of their next of kin/emergency contact.
- Where employees are not working from an office base in the region, check in daily with employees in the regions affected to ensure they are safe.
- Contact your business travel insurance provider to understand what assistance they may be able to offer to employees in the region, particularly for those employees undertaking business travel.
- Support affected employees by:
- Offering counselling services.
- Providing quiet spaces to make/take telephone calls from relatives or friends in the region.
- Allowing employees to take time off at short notice.
- Being alert to the potential for conflict and tackling that fairly and consistently.
Immigration
As indicated above, affected employees (including visitors to the region) should continue to monitor and follow FCDO and local guidance. People seeking to depart affected countries should register for government evacuation transport for their nationality and/or consider multi-leg relocation if direct commercial transport routes to their ultimate destination (including the UK) are not available.
Further considerations for employers with a UK presence are set out below.
Employees who live and work long-term in the region
Full immigration requirements for the UK are currently being enforced, however this situation may change as events unfold.
If you are considering relocating employees and their family members from affected countries to the UK, either temporarily or permanently, you should:
- Compile and maintain data on each affected person, including their current location, immigration status and nationality (or nationalities), any other locations where they have a right of residence.
- Review whether you have appropriate sponsor licences in place to receive affected staff (e.g. Skilled Worker and/or Senior or Specialist Worker route licence).
- Be aware that the UK intends to apply a UK ‘visa brake’ on eligibility for Skilled Worker visas for citizens of Afghanistan, and eligibility for Student visas for citizens of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan from 26 March 2026 – the measures will be reviewed on a 2-monthly basis.
- Monitor for temporary closures and service changes at UK Visa Application Centres and English language testing centres in affected countries.
- Monitor for exceptional measures that the British government (or other governments) may announce regarding visa application requirements, entry and in-country immigration route switching.
- Consider a phased approach where it’s not feasible to immediately travel to the UK, identifying and evaluating potential interim locations in terms of:
- The available short and longer term immigration status options;
- Right to work (if working in the temporary location is proposed); and
- Eligibility to apply for a UK visa from the interim location (if necessary).
- If a temporary stay in the UK is proposed, consider eligibility to enter as a visitor and whether an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) or visitor visa is required in advance.
- If a relocation to the UK for work is proposed, check whether each affected person already has British citizenship or an immigration status that includes the right to work in the UK – if not, evaluate immigration options and timing for the individual and any family members (including any interim options and emerging departures from normal application eligibility and processing requirements). Feasible application locations will need to be identified and monitored for changes.
- Following the recent full enforcement of ETA, check whether British or Irish dual citizens have a valid passport or certificate of entitlement to the right of abode to travel to the UK.
Employees temporarily in the UK
Some visiting employees may be unable or unwilling to return to affected countries. Each situation should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with immigration options being considered ahead of existing UK immigration permission expiring.
Practical tips
Travel around and out of affected countries may be at individuals’ own risk, with some advisories stating that individuals should shelter in place. Conditions may change at short notice.
Some practical points are that:
- The security situation and travel guidance in each affected country should be closely monitored, with current advice being re-checked and adhered to before moving location.
- Eligibility for evacuation from affected countries by a specific government should be carefully checked before registering, especially for those travelling in a family group with multiple nationalities.
- Instructions from carriers should be strictly followed, including not travelling to a point of departure without confirmation to do so from the carrier.
- Documentation requirements and processes for carriers and for crossing land borders should be verified before making travel arrangements, and again immediately ahead of travel.
- Travellers should be aware of limited availability of transport options and accommodation near transport hubs. They should also prepare for traffic congestion and delays as well as for short-notice changes and cancellations to travel arrangements.
Other global mobility considerations
As discussed, employees based in affected countries may want to leave the region temporarily due to the current unrest, or may be unable to return if they are currently abroad. Working from a new location that is not the same as the employer’s may give rise to a number of other considerations from a global mobility perspective:
- Creating a permanent establishment for corporation tax purposes – Current events could lead to you finding that you have workers in locations where your business previously had no presence. This can present a risk that the business is considered as having a permanent establishment in the new country which could result in foreign corporate tax liability. From a UK perspective, for example, this could be the case if the employee has a sales or business development role and is habitually exercising the authority to conclude contracts in your business’s name while in the host country. Local rules may provide for a more expansive definition of a permanent establishment – that said it is worth noting that where world events have forced travel, a more pragmatic approach has been permitted by the authorities (the last instance of such being remote working during Covid).
- Individual tax residence – where time in the UK is driven by “exceptional circumstances”, up to 60 days in the UK can be ignored for the purposes of the UK statutory residence test. This concept is given a narrow interpretation by HMRC, and can apply only where the FCDO warns against “all travel” to a jurisdiction. Of the jurisdictions in the region, at the time of writing this includes Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Syria and the Yemen. It does not include the United Arab Emirates. The effect of inadvertently becoming UK tax resident could result in an individual becoming liable to UK income tax on their worldwide income and gains, at tax rates of up to 45%. The effect is particularly pronounced here given most of the jurisdictions listed above (including the UAE) do not levy income tax. Up to date individual advice is important given this is a complex area of law and events are quickly moving the dial how the rules apply.
- Social security - cross border and remote working can change the employee’s applicable social security regime.
- Regulatory compliance – it is important for employers to carefully consider whether remote working may trigger regulatory compliance requirements. This will often depend on the role the employee undertakes or the business the employer is in.
- Employment rights - Employees may gain certain employment rights in these countries from the first day they start working from the country.
- Insurance and benefits – it will be important for employers to ensure they understand the restrictions on their business-related insurance with regard to overseas employees as well as whether the employee working overseas may impact on their access to employee benefits e.g. will death in service payments still be available if the employee is working overseas.
These can be complex and fact specific issues that require bespoke advice but you can read about these topics in more detail here and here.
Practical tips
- Do not approve remote working requests without fully considering the compliance considerations in full. It is important that managers are advised of this position as they may inadvertently permit remote overseas working without fully understanding the implications of permitting such work. A clear framework for approving these requests with clear accountability for risk assessment is the best approach for ensuring compliance,
- Consider if your existing temporary overseas work from anywhere policy can be utilised to support employees in certain cases.
- Ensure a consistent approach is being taken when considering remote working cases.
- Where remote working overseas will be permitted, ensure there are clear records and tracking of employees so you can ensure you monitor the safety of these employees carefully.
- Clearly document any temporary overseas work arrangements with employees, making it clear the period of time for which such remote work will be permitted as well as the responsibilities of the employer and employee e.g. with regard to any overseas personal taxation liability that may be triggered.
Looking ahead
The current crisis in the Middle East is a reminder that geopolitical disruption is no longer a distant or intermittent risk. From the pandemic to the war in Ukraine and now events in the Middle East, employers have faced a series of challenges requiring rapid responses to protect and support their workforce.
The lesson for employers is not simply to react to each crisis as it arises, but to build the capacity to respond thoughtfully and consistently when disruption occurs. This means embedding contingency planning into workforce strategy – ensuring that policies on travel, remote working, emergency leave and employee support are robust and flexible enough to accommodate unexpected events.
If you have any questions about these issues, please get in touch with your usual Lewis Silkin contact.
Please see our other articles related to the content in this article: