Sacked worker to get $60,000 for constructive dismissal

The court ordered Mega Brite Industries Limited to pay the money to Dexter Miller by the end of this month after ruling that his dismissal was harsh, oppressive and contrary to good industrial practices and it noted the company said Miller was "a very good worker who performed excellently."

The court also found that the company had constructively terminated Miller’s services when he was informed in writing that he had been suspended for an indefinite period.

"The approach adopted by the company, that a worker can be suspended until he or she submits to the company’s directive, is not only wrong, but is in flagrant violation of the principles of good industrial relations practices."

Company officials claimed it was a condition of employment that all employees furnish certificates of character.

"It was a requirement since the inception of the company in 1979, as a supplier of cleaning and maintenance services of various business places and institutions in Trinidad and Tobago.

"But due to the bureaucracy by the police in supplying such police certificates, the company relaxed its employment requirements," a Mega Brite official told the court.

The company official explained that when Miller was employed, this requirement was not enforced and he did not supply the company with a certificate of character at the time of his employment in 1986. Sometime toward the end of 2002, the company’s clients requested that workers selected to perform duties at their workplaces supply character references.

When Miller was fired he got the Communication Workers’ Union to represent him in the Industrial Court. The court noted that he was suspended indefinitely, pending his compliance with his employers’ request.

The case was heard by Debra Thomas-Felix Albert Aberdeen and Gregory Rousseau.