Labor Complaint Tribunal Consists of Five Members

Valentino Shal

In a release issued earlier by the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labor and Local Government informs workers and employers who wish to bring a case before the tribunal to contact any district labor office.  The tribunal commenced operations on March fourth, 2022 by installing a critical case management system and procedures.  Its first decision was delivered on October twelfth.

Valentino Shal, C.E.O., Ministry of Labour

“It’s a quasi-judicial body.  It’s appointed by the ministry and it’s composed of different members, one represents the minister, one represents the Supreme Court and the Chamber of Commerce, the trade unions and of course the Labor Commissioner, as an ex-officio member.  And so it’s officially recognized, its decisions are legally binding and of course, if anyone wants to challenge it, they can go farther within the judiciary, but it’s a fully recognized body that can issue decisions as it’s supposed to, as allowed for under the law.  And so this, I think, gives the workers an avenue to address those issues.  The Labor Complaint Tribunal, the scope of their work is to address those issues that fall under Section Forty-two of the Labor Act.  So there are about twelve different instances where you may bring a case of wrongful dismissal and this addresses things like if you were dismissed because you are a member of a trade union, or because of your ethnicity, or because of your HIV status and you feel that you may have been wrongfully dismissed because of that, you can now bring that before the tribunal.  But it’s very specific to those listed under Section Forty-two of the Labor Act. The chairman is attorney Anthony Sylvestre and so he is the current chairman of the tribunal.  The Labor Act allows for the tribunal to be an independent body, so once it is established it operates on its own and it is not interfered with by anyone.  All the other members are there and each key sector is represented, the private sector employers are represented, workers are represented and, of course, like I said, there’s a representative of the Chief Justice on the tribunal.”