The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 1,000 trade disputes were filed with the Department of Labour in 2018, Labour Minister Dion Foulkes revealed yesterday during his budget contribution in the Senate.

In total, 1,207 disputes were filed. Labour Director John Pinder later told The Tribune the vast majority of these disputes were resolved in favour of employees because employers often misinterpret the Employment Act.

Mr Pinder highlighted the gaming industry as one of the problem areas from which a number of cases emerge.

He told The Tribune: "Quite a number of the disputes come from number houses. I'm often baffled at the fact that these web shop owners are throwing millions of dollars on a party through the Christmas and hate to pay their staff a decent salary and treat them fairly. That does hurt my heart."

Of the disputes filed in 2018, 924 were from New Providence and 283 were from Family Islands. 567 of the disputes have been resolved, 55 were withdrawn, 469 are pending and 116 were referred to the Industrial Tribunal. In the first quarter of 2019, there were 330 trade disputes filed, 245 in New Providence and 85 in Family Islands. 134 have been resolved, 131 are pending, 23 have been withdrawn and 42 have been referred to the tribunal.

Mr Pinder said 80 percent of disputes relate to accusations of wrongful dismissal or issues concerning severance or vacation pay. A huge 85 percent are resolved in favour of the employee, he said.

"Severance pay, wrongful dismissal, people who don't want pay their employees their vacation pay, that's what most of the disputes are," he said, adding that 90 percent of the disputes come from the private sector and almost all come from employees.

"Most of the times the employer misinterprets the Employment Act. They believe persons have to give certain amount of years of service or that if you terminate them you don't have to pay them. In truth, it depends on the circumstances of the termination that determines the severance pay.

Mr Pinder said the reason some disputes are pending is that employers often don't respond to summonses. "They recognise that in the conciliation process, the director of labour doesn't have the power to fine them for not showing up," he said. "The (law) says I have to ask the tribunal to put a $5,000 fine on them for not showing up. Sometimes that process takes a while. We are trying now to cause the Department of Labour and the director of labour to have more teeth where he himself could fine the employer for not showing up to the conciliation process."

Mr Pinder explained that matters are referred to the Industrial Tribunal when conciliators cannot resolve disputes between employers and employees.

"Most of the time the employer is refusing to take our recommendation," he said. "The conciliators can only make a recommendation. We show them what the Employment Act says as it relates to severance pay, vacation pay and that sort of thing but we don't have any teeth, we can't enforce it. Even the tribunal can't enforce it. One of the things we are working on now is for the tribunal to transferred to the civil side of the Supreme Court so that when the tribunal makes a ruling you don't have to go back to the Supreme Court to enforce that ruling."

Mr Pinder said there are 12 conciliators in New Providence, three in Grand Bahama and one in Eleuthera, Exuma and Andros each. People who have disputes on other islands have to come to New Providence to deal with them.

As for the trade disputes, Mr Foulkes said: "A person who feels they have been negatively impacted by a decision by an employer has the right to file a trade dispute to get their matter resolved. If it is handled properly, either positively or negatively, it (affects) the person and that person's family."

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