An Enemalta engineer who was denied pre-retirement leave has won €10,000 in compensation after an industrial tribunal ruled that he was the victim of discrimination.

The tribunal found that the special leave was granted to one employee but not another, resulting in a precedent and, therefore, discrimination. 

Chaired by lawyer Geoffrey Vella, the tribunal was ruling in a case filed by engineer Kenneth Abela, employed with Engineering Resources Limited, a government-owned company created to take over the human resources of Enemalta Corporation when it became a public liability company.

The old Marsa power station.

Abela’s lawyer, Mark Simiana, argued that his client had been treated in a discriminatory manner, when the company denied him the right to a maximum of six months of pre-retirement leave which had been granted to at least one other employee. 

He noted that according to the collective agreement, employees were entitled to avail themselves of any unutilised sick leave in the four years immediately prior to retirement, up to a maximum of six months. 

Abela further claimed that another engineer on an equal scale had been granted an additional 180 days of pre-retirement leave under the pretext that he was needed to continue monitoring the decommissioning of the Marsa power station project. 

The company insisted that this was not discriminatory treatment, and that the other engineer had been given a token for accepting to work beyond his retirement. 

It said that although it employed around 2,000 people, the discrimination case was based on just one person whose 35 years’ experience was required for the decommissioning of a power station plant. 

But the tribunal ruled that although the company claimed that this was an award and not preretirement leave, the company granted engineer Gauci what had asked for, or rather what had been taken away from him, namely 180 days of preretirement leave. 

The tribunal added that the company wanted to “disguise” its behaviour because it knew that it was creating a precedent and that its decision amounted to discrimination.

The tribunal therefore ordered the company to pay Abela €10,000 in compensation.