Court quashes labour relations conviction against Marksman
December 19, 2006
A security company and one of its directors had their convictions quashed and their $550,000 fines set aside for breaching one of the regulations under the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act.
Marksman Limited and Valerie Juggan-Brown, a director, were convicted on November 22, last year in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court for failure to provide the Minister of Labour with information in relation to certain categories of workers.
Requested information
The company was fined $500,000 and Juggan-Brown was fined $50,000.
The minister had requested information in relation to certain employees of Marksman Ltd., after the United Union of Jamaica reported that it had served a Form Two (claim form) for a representational rights poll in relation to the workers.
Winston Spaulding, Q.C., and attorney-at-law Garth McBean, who represented the company and the director, argued that the Resident Magistrate erred in convicting them because there was no evidence that the union had served the Form Two on the company, outlining its intention to represent the workers.
Marksman Ltd. had said in its defence that it only received a letter from United Union of Jamaica but had never received the claim form.
No proof
The Court of Appeal, comprising Mr. Justice Seymour Panton, Mr. Justice Howard Cooke and Mrs. Justice Hazel Harris, upheld submissions from the lawyers that there was no evidence to prove that Marksman Ltd. had received the Form Two from the union and therefore, the convictions must be quashed....
Author: Barbara Gayle
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
