Health authorities suing former liaison officer Neville Gafa’ for some €6,500 in alleged undue overtime payments have once again had their case thrown out on appeal.
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, the court of appeal confirmed the first instance decision handed down in February. Back then the magistrates’ court had concluded that the applicants had adopted the wrong procedure when seeking to claim the refund allegedly owed to the department.
The issue dates back to the time when Gafa’ was appointed liaison officer for the Office of the Prime Minister at the Ministry of Health, claiming €6,538.63 for overtime hours.
Civil proceedings were instituted in 2017 by the Health Parliamentary Secretary and Chief Medical Officer in an attempt to claim back those funds.
Then Health Ministry chief of staff Christian Zammit testified that a specific claims form had been issued by finance authorities after disgruntled employees had complained to him about their long work hours for which they were not being adequately compensated.
Gafa’ himself had testified in court, explaining how he used to work even “on Saturdays and Sundays,” and claiming that his overtime payments had been approved after consultation with financial authorities.
However, the medical authorities presented Gafa’s employment contract with the Foundation for Medical Services which stated that “the remunerative structure agreed above is full and sufficient compensation to the employee for any and all hours worked in the proper fulfilment of his duties and the employee waives any claim in connection therewith.”
Yet, when delivering judgment, the magistrates’ court had pointed out that the case had been filed in terms of a procedure allowing the government to sue for its debts. Still, that procedure was never meant as a blanket provision covering all types of debts, but only those debts specifically mentioned by the legislator, namely those related to services, supplies, rent, licence and other fees or taxes due.
The court said that the provision did not cover overtime payments, thus rejecting the claim by the health authorities who were entitled to pursue other civil remedies.
That position was confirmed on appeal.
In a judgment delivered by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff, the court declared that article 466 of the code of organisation and civil procedure, resorted to by the appellants, was not intended to cover all types of government debts.
The court also rejected the appellants’ argument that the magistrates’ court had acted beyond its powers by raising the procedural issue ex officio.
The matter was a procedural one and concerned a matter of public order, said Mr Justice Mintoff, and therefore the first court had acted correctly and had interpreted the provision according to the spirit of the law.
As for the merits of the case, evidence could be assessed in other civil proceedings available to the authorities to claim back the allegedly undue payments.