Case

Senior Judges Court of the Sovereign Bases Areas hears major appeal about public sector pay freezes

In this appeal in the British Overseas Territory of the SBAs, the Senior Judges Court was convened to hear an appeal by some 50 appellants who had unsuccessfully sought to judicially review an Ordinance extending a pay freeze in respect of their wages, which would otherwise have increased automatically on a yearly basis until the individual reached the top of his pay scale.  The ordinance had been brought in order to meet financial constraints on the budget as well as in order to meet the general equivalence provision in the Treaty of Establishment of the Republic of Cyprus as regards pay and conditions between employees in the RoC and those in the SBAs.  The RoC had implemented similar measures at the same time as part of its Austerity Measures.  The Claimants challenged the Ordinance on the grounds that it was irrational, took into account irrelevant considerations, was based upon a misinterpretation of the Treaty and was contrary to the domestic equivalent of Article 1 Protocol 1.  They were unsuccessful in June 2015 and this was the hearing of the appeal, which proceeds by way of re-hearing. Samantha Broadfoot appeared for the Administrator. Mr Justice Ouseley (Judge in charge of the Administrative Court of England and Wales) presided over the appeal with HHJ Waksman (Judge in Charge of the London Mercantile Court) and HHJ Dight (Second Chancery Circuit Judge).

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