Court overturns tribunal's ruling

The Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) yesterday overturned a ruling of the Industrial Tribunal and remitted the case back to the tribunal to be heard on the merits.

The judgment was delivered by Mr Justice Philip Sciberras in proceedings lodged by Grezzju Azzopardi against Public Broadcasting Services Ltd.

Mr Azzopardi had requested the tribunal to investigate his claims that he was not receiving the same pay as other employees at PBS who were doing work that was similar to his own.

PBS submitted before the tribunal that Mr Azzopardi's claim had been time barred for there was a four-month time limit within which the claim ought to have been lodged, and Mr Azzopardi had not filed his claim in time.

The tribunal upheld PBS's submissions and Mr Azzopardi appealed to the Court of Appeal. In yesterday's judgment Mr Justice Sciberras noted that Mr Azzopardi had been employed with PBS in July 2004 as a messenger/driver/handyman. But he said that other employees at the same grade as his were receiving more than he was by way of salary.

This complaint, said the court, was of a continuous nature, and there was, therefore, no connection with any particular period of time. The situation would be different had Mr Azzopardi complained of unjustified dismissal, for the latter instance involved a date of termination of employment.

On the contrary, Mr Azzopardi's complaint could not be linked to any particular moment in time.

The court, therefore, revoked the tribunal's decision and remitted the case to it for a decision on the merits.