REPORT: Labour Department accused of bias & lack of response!
The report, which alleged bias and lack of response to an application to settle a dispute about unfair dismissal, was laid in the House of Assembly on September 3, 2012, and added that the objective of learning from investigations is not being met.
The Commission’s report titled ‘Denial of Service’ was directed at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, in relation to the complaint of unfair dismissal met out to an individual named ‘Ernie’ for the purposes of the report.
Ernie, the report stated, complained that the Labour Department did not diligently pursue his complaint of unfair dismissal against the company that was his former employer, (termed Employer A for the purposes of the report) who terminated his employment without notice on ‘suspicion of theft’. The report continued that the inconclusive state of the case has left Ernie uncertain of his employment status in the territory.
According to him, it resulted in harm to his reputation and stymied his efforts to get new employment.
He further claimed that the Labour Commissioner (LC) unjustly and without explanation denied a work permit application submitted for him by Employer B on November 8, 2010.
The complaint in its entirety was reportedly referred to the Complaints Commission on February 18, 2011 by the Governor.
The investigation plan involved several labour officers, (including the LC) and a businessman being summoned and interviews under oath; the close examination of relevant department files; examination of the Labour Code Ordinance, 1975, as well as the Labour Code Act, 2010; and finally further interrogation of the complainant and review of his documents.
The Labour Commissioner and Chief Immigration Officer were notified of the investigation on February 18, 2011 with two separate ‘calls for documents’ made on March 10, and 22, 2011 respectively.
The findings of the report indicated that there was evidence of maladministration found as the Department virtually ignored for an unreasonably long time (over 13 months) the complaint filed by Ernie; displayed open bias in the handling of the complaint; did not follow the law; took too long to process Employer B’s work permit application to employ the complainant and Department staff played a role in the employer ‘withdrawing’ it late in the day.
The report subsequently recommended that a full apology to the complainant, corrective letters to Employer A and Employer B and strong internal measures to correct the problems encountered, thereby removing or reducing the cause for such complaints in the future.
Neither the Ministry nor the Department has responded to the findings and recommendations.
The Complaints Commission of the Virgin Islands was established as a respected and trusted constitutional vehicle used on the behalf of aggrieved citizens to remedy systemic failure and to influence the realization of improvements in how public services are delivered.
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23 Responses to “REPORT: Labour Department accused of bias & lack of response!”
If the Labour Commissioner or acting Labour Commissioner is not performing their job without bias, then the Minister of Natural Resources and Labour must take action. If he fails to take action, then the Premier must step in.
If nothing is done, we are leaving ourselves wide open to lawsuits and any damages that a court of law may deem appropriate. The whole point of the Complaints commission is to identify and head off any possible problems before they become major problems that will cost all of us money!
POOR MAN KIND