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Suspended Petrotrin five to know fate next month

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The five Human Resources heads at State-owned Petrotrin who were suspended last week will know their fate next month.

This was outlined in Ryerson Bagoo, Fareeda Mohammed, Gillian Cherotiere, Franka Mohammed and Bianca Attong’s suspension letters, signed by Petrotrin’s acting senior manager of Human Resources, Alvin Stephenson.

Under the headline “Notice of Suspension Pending Investigation of Complaint”, Stephenson wrote in one letter: 

“You are hereby suspended from work with effect from July 12, pending investigation of a complaint which has been received regarding your work and/or conduct in respect of the following matters. 

The suspension will be without loss of pay and is not to be regarded as disciplinary action.”

During the company’s investigation, the workers were advised that they would also be interviewed on the matter of complaint.

“You are urged to give your fullest co-operation in this regard. You may, if you so desire, furnish a written statement to the officer instead of or in addition to the interview,” Stephenson penned in another letter.

The five would know their fate by Petrotrin, following an investigation, which will be concluded before mid-August.

Last Wednesday, the T&T Guardian published exclusively the suspension of the five workers who have since sought legal advice on the matter.

In defence of the move, Petrotrin stated it conducted an internal audit of its recruitment processes for four years to review the company’s control processes and as a result of its findings and recommendations, further investigations involving key employees were being conducted.

Hours after the workers’ suspension, president general of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), Ancel Roget, called on Petrotrin to fire the HR heads.

Some of the transgressions outlined in the suspension letters Petrotrin claimed the workers allegedly committed were:

• Failed to adhere to the company’s human resources policies/procedures and practices. 

• Recruiting individuals without first advertising the jobs.

• Giving offer letters to employees before having received the results of pre-employment medical tests.

• Recruitment of people who failed to meet the minimum qualifications and experience requirements.

• Conduct interviews without first determining the availability of suitably qualified internal company employees. 

But a source told the T&T Guardian that none of the five suspended employees had final decision-making authority to hire anyone so if any unqualified person was hired they would not be to blame.

The source explained that hiring personnel outside of the existing organisation structure outlined in Petrotrin’s documents, entitled HR Authorities, dated February 2011, item 11, gives full authority to the vice-presidents and president to re-organise and restructure the company. 

“Therefore any hiring that was outside of a pre-existing organisation structure would have been appropriately approved by the relevant vice-president or president,” the source said.

With regards to giving offer letters to employees before having received the results of pre-employment medical tests, the source explained that (Petrotrin’s) medical testing policy did not require that a pre-employment medical be done before every hire.

“Additionally, every offer letter contains a clause that indicates the offer is contingent on the results of a medical test if one was done. 

Therefore it is not necessary to wait for the results before an offer is made. 

“There are numerous examples of this being done over the years and is actually something that the OWTU has pushed for to minimise delays in the recruiting of employees,” the source added.

Touching on the recruiting personnel without first advertising the jobs, the source said Petrotrin’s policy indicated that advertising would “normally” be done.

“It does not require advertising. In practice, all executive positions are advertised. The company is also allowed to promote from within, without advertising for a job opening. 

“This is standard business practice. What these employees have in common is that they were all promoted by the former vice-president of Human Resources and Corporate Services,” the source added.


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