The Industrial Court has dismissed a wrongful termination claim brought by a former Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank (ECAB) employee, ruling that the bank had sufficient grounds to terminate him for gross misconduct. According to Antigua.news, the court found that the dismissal was justified and that the worker was not entitled to compensation or his employer's contribution to his retirement savings plan.
Edzel Joseph, who served as an Attendant in the bank's Facilities Department, had been employed with the Bank of Antigua since 1991 — prior to its amalgamation in 2010. He was dismissed on September 7, 2018, after 27 years of service, at which point he was earning a monthly salary of approximately $3,400.
The bank cited gross misconduct as the basis for the termination, specifically the unauthorised possession of a CCTV camera sign that had gone missing from its premises. Joseph contended that he had retrieved the sign after the bank discarded it during an equipment disposal at the Cooks Dump site.
The sequence of events leading to his dismissal began on August 16, 2018, when a colleague who visited Joseph's home noticed a CCTV camera sign on his fence that resembled the one reported missing by his supervisor. Joseph was subsequently suspended with pay on August 27, 2018, pending an investigation carried out by the bank's Internal Auditor.
The auditor visited Joseph's home, photographed the sign, and interviewed Joseph. Joseph submitted a written explanation stating that the sign had been broken in two when he found it and that he had kept only the top piece. However, when investigator Peter Quinn returned to the property on September 3, the sign — which had appeared unbroken in photographs taken on August 28 — was found damaged.
The court noted the photographic evidence and found that it suggested a deliberate attempt to alter the sign in order to support Joseph's account.
On the question of procedural fairness, Joseph argued that he was not afforded a formal disciplinary hearing prior to his dismissal. The court acknowledged the omission but found that the outcome of any such hearing would have been dismissal regardless, and therefore any compensatory award would have been reduced to zero.
The court also weighed the broader context of the banking industry, noting that unauthorised possession of company property in that sector carries particular significance and can constitute a fundamental breach of the employment contract.
Further weighing against Joseph was a prior incident in May 2018, in which he had installed a personal camera on ECAB premises. He was warned at that time that further misconduct could result in dismissal.
The court acknowledged the gravity of Joseph losing both his 27-year tenure and his retirement benefits, but ultimately concluded that the dismissal did not meet the legal threshold of being harsh, oppressive, or otherwise unfair.
