Lawyer Ragunath Kesavan, appearing for L Subramaniam, said a legal firm representing the US government had filed an application for leave in the Federal Court last week by framing four legal questions.

“One is whether under the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity, the dismissal of staff at its embassy can be heard by the industrial court,” he said.

The apex court will hear the merit of the appeal only if the questions raised are novel and of public importance.

The embassy sacked Subramaniam in 2008 but in April 2019, then human resources minister M Kula Segaran referred the matter to the industrial court to arbitrate the dispute.

Subramaniam, 52, who served the embassy for 21 years, is claiming he was unfairly terminated and is seeking reinstatement or compensation as a substitute for returning to work. He was earning RM2,000 a month at the time of the dismissal.

On Feb 3, a three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Kamaludin Md Said, in allowing an appeal by Subramaniam and the human resources minister, said it was for the industrial court to determine whether the foreign mission had absolute immunity from local laws.

Ragunath had submitted that there was no absolute immunity and the issue was a question of fact to be decided by the industrial court.

The bench had quashed the High Court’s decision to allow a judicial review application last year that the embassy enjoyed immunity from local laws.

However, the embassy went to the High Court to determine the immunity issue when the case was before industrial court chairman Gulam Muhiaddeen Abdul Aziz.