April 2017 The Industrial Court Awards in cases of Constructive Dismissal have been much in the news recently since one employee was awarded three million dollars in compensation for having been dismissed using flawed procedures. A judgment from the Industrial Court in Trade Dispute No. 221 of 2003, delivered on September 21, 2005 between SWWTU […]
I Like Goats I don’t know about you, but I am rather fond of goats. They are independent creatures, intelligent and make up their own minds about things. They can also be very productive. There is a goat farm in Tobago that produces the best goat cheese in the known universe…at least in my known universe. […]
Gregory Rousseau was a trade unionist of long standing before he was appointed to be a Judge of the Industrial Court. He worked for many years in that most difficult of areas, and was highly respected in his field. Recent press reports about his contribution to last week’s ECA seminar on Landmark Court Judgments shows […]
While the principle that an employer should not be forced to block the efficient management of business by being compelled to retain incompetent employees must be accepted, there should be verifiable evidence of the incompetence. Where the employee is a new recruit, this can be done during the probationary period. With employees of long standing, […]
Lack of Qualifications An employee can be fairly dismissed for lack of qualifications to do the job only if it was made clear in the employment contract or letter of employment what qualifications are required and the employee does not have them or was employed under the false impression that he/she did have them. This […]
IR Tip 2 Sept 201 6
First Published in the Trinidad Express on October 13th 2016 Pension Problem Ahead Do you have your watch on? If you do, take a look at the second hand. Every second, you read this, you are ageing. One day you will be old. Except, of course, if you choose the alternative. Not everyone […]
A couple weeks ago we started our tips series for HR Practitioners. One area that is constantly being called to question is, how can we provide a solid argument that Succession Planning must be considered as a business imperative? Here are some arguments that you can use to build your business case: Business Continuity: What […]
When it comes to the question of what is called “constructive dismissal” there is a certain amount of confusion as what it means. Technically, constructive dismissal is when an employee resigns from a company because the employer’s actions in relation to her or to him amounted to a breach of the employment contract. This often […]
In the series you will be able to identify what the Court regards –or has regarded over the years, as justified dismissals and what it has accounted as unjustified and why. We start with a judgement that came out in 2013 for misconduct. Two workers, a driver and a loader were dismissed for gross misconduct. […]
