Several years ago, I was unemployed in London after moving to the U.K. to marry a U.K. citizen.

I quickly noticed an obvious difference in the employment process I encountered in London during my job search as compared to the process on job searches I had conducted in the United States. As a recruitment professional (with major American corporations) all of this seemed very odd and strange to me; I intuitively thought somehow American federal employment law must (or at least should) certainly apply (even in the U.K.) since I was being interviewed and screened for (or seeking to interview with) American firms.

I vowed someday to find out about the international reach and applicability of American employment laws.

After all, as an American living in Britain, I did not have the inherent right to criticize or challenge the employment practices of British firms, I am not British!

However, as a native born American I possess the inalienable right to question, criticize, and challenge the employment practices and behavior of my country’s firms (no matter where they operate)! And I have the absolute right as an American citizen to hold them accountable for their employment behavior even in the U.K. since it was different than what I had experienced in the States.