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 would be a recruitment mistake on the part of the employer, and if a false claim of qualifications was made on the part of the employee, this would be considered to be fraud. In Trinidad & Tobago, the first three to six months of the employment relationship are normally designated to be a “Probationary Period”, and should be so specifically stated in the letter of employment. During this period the competence or lack of it on the part of the new employee to perform the function must be assessed. Since the internet provides prospective employees the opportunity to obtain false certificates which is becoming more common, it is important that the recruiting agency, if one was used, verify the validity of any certification claimed. If no recruiting agency was used the Human Resources function in the company must do so and carefully monitor the recruit’s competency level during the probation period.
Demonstrable lack of competence or false claims of certification are grounds for fair dismissal.
If qualifications were not specified in the contract and the employee, although uncertified, proves competent to the employer, the correct thing for the employer to do would be to assist the employee to obtain the required certification. This is particularly important where there are licensing or ISO requirements that operators of equipment and machinery are to be certified.
