Industrial Court upholds worker’s dismissal

THE INDUSTRIAL Court has thrown out the case of a worker who claimed that her dismissal by her former company was harsh, oppressive, and contrary to the principles of good industrial relations.

On the contrary, the Court in its judgment, advised Jilian Aberdeen that dishonesty was a very serious act of misconduct. “It undermines mutual trust and confidence — two essential components of the employer/employee relationship.” The court found that accounts clerk Jilian Aberdeen “misconducted herself” when she falsfied her personal records to benefit herself. Her action was described by the court as unpardonable and in flagrant breach of her fidelity to her employer. It was felt that her action struck at the root of her contract of employment. On the basis of the evidence it heard, the court held that the company, Carib Glassworks Ltd, was justified in dismissing the worker.

A summary of the facts showed that as accounts clerk, Aberdeen was responsbile for the preparation of the monthly payroll for the company’s monthly-paid unionised workers. The computerised Projected Earnings System (PES) was used by the company for calculating and making income tax deductions from salaries. This method determined, in advance, the projected earnings of employees over the period of 12 months identified for income purposes by the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) and or national tax laws by calculating 12 monthly tax deductions in accordance with tax deductions tables provided by the BIR.

The company’s payroll system also contained software of another system, called the Year to Date (YTD), by which an employee’s earnings for the year or any current pay period could be calculated by a mathematical formula and deductions of income tax made accordingly. The worker was authorised to use the PES. Sometime during 2000, an audit of the company revealed that the worker altered the PAYE system from PES to the YTD system without the consent or prior approval of the company, and applied same to her income. The effect of this was that it allowed the worker to manipulate the system, in that she determined when, and what taxes were deducted from her salary in a given month.

The National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) which represernted Aberdeen, admitted that the worker altered the PES without authority. The reason advanced by the union was that the YTD system allowed the worker to augment, offset or alleviate some of her personal and/or domestic expenses and increase her take home pay for the relevant months. The union also admitted in its evidence and arguments that the worker waived loan payments due to a credit union without authority, and then made arrangement to liquidate the arrears. But the court was not impressed. “We find that the termination of the worker’s employment by the company was by no means harsh, oppressive or contrary to the principles of good industrial relations practice. The union’s case is hereby dismissed.” The Court’s quorum was Sandra Ramparas, Presiding Member; Patrick Rabathaly and Sam Maharaj, Members.