Recruitment to senior administrative posts at MCAST are carried out in a “somewhat happy-go-lucky way”, the Ombudsman has said in a ruling.
In a report sent to the prime minister in October, the Ombudsman found there was minimal in-house guidance as to how recruitment and interviews in general should be conducted at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology.
The report centred on a complaint by an MCAST employee who failed an interview for the post of HR director.
While the education commissioner within the ombudsman’s office found no objective evidence of unfairness or malpractice in the way marks were awarded to the seven applicants for the post, the report criticised the composition of the subsequent appeals board.
To be practical and effective the right to appeal requires that the members of any board of appeal should be objectively independent of the parties involved, the commissioner said.
Two members of the appeals board were found to be “blatantly dependent” on the college principal, who had taken part in the original interview process along with a deputy principal whom they also had a close line relationship.
This close relationship meant that the board of appeal was not objectively independent, the commissioner, even though there was no evidence of actual bias.
“There was, therefore, a clear procedural unfairness in the whole affair,” the commissioner said.
The ombudsman therefore ruled that the complainant had suffered a procedural injustice as the board of appeal was not objectively independent.
In correspondence with the Ombudsman, MCAST pledged to amend the appeals board composition to safeguard its independence and impartiality.
It also took on board a recommendation to communicate the names of an interviewing panel to job candidates ahead of time, to allow candidates to challenge the presence of a particular member.
MCAST however turned down another ombudsman recommendation for all job interviews to be recorded to enable applicants to appeal or seek judicial redress.
“Interviews shall not be video recorded under any circumstances,” MCAST said.