The North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) has been ordered to pay almost $1 million in compensation to a doctor whom it unfairly dismissed five years ago.
Three Industrial Court judges made the order yesterday as they ruled that the NWRHA’s management acted harshly, oppressively and against good industrial relations when it terminated Dr Jacqueline Shafe’s contract in 2011.
Shafe was hired as a specialist medical officer on a two-year contract in September 2009. However, with six months left on the contract, the NWRHA informed her she should not have been hired for the post as she was not registered as a specialist with the Medical Board. It also claimed she was overpaid $234,918.57 during her period of employment as she was assigned the post of general manager of Health Policy Research and Planning—which earned a lower salary than a specialist medical officer. It requested that she repay it the difference in salaries.
In a 22-page judgment, Industrial Court Judge Dinesh Rambally agreed with Shafe’s lawyers that her contract did not require her to be registered as a specialist, only as a medical practitioner.
Rambally also stated that the NWRHA acted unfairly as it did not speak to Shafe before it made its decision.
“The authority did not have any good reasons for acting in the manner in which it did and had it afforded the worker an opportunity to be heard, it is very likely that it would have been guided differently and acted appropriately in all the circumstances,” Rambally said, as he criticised the authority for failing to seek legal advice before taking its decision.
He also noted that the authority’s case failed as it “attempted to shift the goal posts in terms of its reasons for Shafe’s dismissal” during the trial of the case.
While the authority’s human resources manager Josephine Hernandez claimed that Shafe did not fulfil her responsibilities under her contract, she admitted that she never worked or interacted with Shafe to monitor the duties she actually performed. Hernandez also admitted that Shafe was an exceptional worker who had won an Individual of the Year Award from the Ministry of Health in 2009.
“Clearly, she possessed the competence to get the job done but more importantly, she had a dedication to her work which is what is so much needed nowadays in the public health sector. The termination of her job not only affected her but also deprived the wider community of excellent health care services,” Rambally said.
In assessing Shafe’s compensation, Rambally awarded her $30,000 for her mental and emotional distress; $40,000 for damage to her reputation from being dismissed and $100,000 in general damages for the NWRHA’s poor handling of her termination.
In addition she was given $159,000 which represented her salary for the remainder of her contract and $594,570.80 in unpaid overtime, unused vacation leave and gratuity payments.
He said because of the length of time between her dismissal and the judgment, reinstatement would not be practical and compensation would suffice.
In a brief interview after the judgment, Shafe thanked God for the court’s decision.
“I feel vindicated. What I went through is nothing that a professional should go through,” she said.
Shafe was represented by the Banking Insurance and General Workers’ Union (BIGWU) and through its attorneys Keith Scotland, Kashif Forbes and Adaphia Trancoso.