The Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled on September 25 that diplomatic immunity does not apply to employer-employee relationships between a domestic worker and a diplomat. The landmark decision came after a Filipino domestic worker sued her employer at the Pakistani Mission in Geneva, alleging years of unpaid labor. This ruling allows domestic workers to bring claims against diplomats regardless of their status.
On September 25, Switzerland's highest court ruled that diplomatic immunity cannot shield diplomats from labor-related lawsuits. The decision establishes that cases involving domestic workers will be treated as standard employer-employee contracts and evaluated on their merits.
"This decision marks a historic development. It confirms that diplomatic immunity is an unacceptable barrier to the fundamental right of access to justice," said Raphaël Jakob, the lawyer representing the Filipino domestic worker whose name is redacted in the court ruling.
Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomats enjoy broad protections from civil or criminal action. Historically, disputes with household staff were handled through extrajudicial arbitration, such as the Bureau de l’Amiable Compositeur in Geneva.
In 2022, the UK Supreme Court ruled in favor of Josephine Wong, a Filipino domestic worker alleging forced labor by Saudi diplomat Khalid Basfar. However, that case was narrower, waiving immunity only for severe exploitation like human trafficking, unlike the Swiss ruling which discards it for any ordinary employment claim.
"To our knowledge, the Swiss decision is the first ruling of this kind by a supreme court, discarding immunity altogether for any ordinary claim based on an employment relationship, without having to reach the higher threshold set by the UK supreme court," said Jakob.
As a diplomatic hub, particularly Geneva, this carries wide-ranging implications for labor rights and diplomatic employment practices in Switzerland. In the US, the Human Trafficking Legal Center challenges immunity by seeking waivers or diplomats' departure.
"We would love to see more criminal prosecutions of diplomat-traffickers. Civil cases are excellent, but result in financial damages alone," said Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center in New York.
A 2023 Rappler investigation revealed the global scale: 208 migrant domestic workers in 18 countries filed complaints against 160 diplomats from 1988 to 2021, including wage theft and abuses.
Among the cases are sisters Virginia and Rosario from Bicol, who worked unpaid for the Pakistani Mission in Geneva. "Mabuti ‘yun hindi nakalimutan ‘yung kaso namin. Ang tagal-tagal na kasi nun," Virginia told Rappler. They endured depression and illness amid backlash, even from fellow Filipinos.
"Often, they come from the same country as the diplomat. They don’t know anything about the host country. They are completely vulnerable," said Jean Pierre Garbade, a lawyer specializing in Filipino domestic worker cases.
Ellene Sana of the Center for Migrant Advocacy hailed the decision but stressed enforcement needs. She also noted abusive Filipino diplomats, like Marichu Maru in 2021 and Manuel Teehankee in 2014.