A court has ordered the Malta Gaming Authority to pay a man over €50,000 in compensation after taking an “illegal” decision which cost him his job and failed to follow the principle of natural justice.

Mr Justice Joseph R Micallef issued the judgment in the First Court of the Civil Court in a case instituted by Gaston Caruana.

Caruana started working at a Maltco Lotteries Limited call centre in April 2004. While still on probation, he was asked to fill in a form with questions. One of them asked if any criminal proceedings had ever been taken against him.

He admitted to having been placed on probation for a crime committed between November 1997 and April 1999.

He remained in Maltco’s employment until 2012, when the company filed an application with the Lotteries and Gaming Authority for its licence to be renewed.

As part of this process, all employees were asked to fill in the National Lottery Approval of Employee application form. MGA then informed Maltco that Caruana had not passed the ‘fit and proper’ test.

Maltco tried keeping him on but no agreement was reached with the MGA. In October 2012, Caruana was terminated.

The authority argued in court that it had adhered to the law regulating lotteries, which obliges it to inquire into the suitability of those involved in these operations.

Mr Justice Micallef ruled that the MGA did not go beyond its powers when it asked Maltco employees whether they had a criminal past, since this was part of its due diligence exercise.

However, as a public authority, the MGA was duty-bound to follow the principles of natural justice. The authority had acted unreasonably when it had not bothered to call Caruana in for a meeting to discuss the matter.

The court also rubbished the authority’s defence that the information about the criminal offence had been given by the employee himself so there was no need to ask him about it.

The MGA had used its discretion in an improper manner and therefore its decision was illegal, the court ruled.

There was no evidence how long Caruana had spent without a job after his termination so the judge awarded him two years’ salary amounting to €50,050.