Derek Achong
Former National Commission for Self Help CEO Elroy Julien on Wednesday narrowly escaped being held in contempt of court for failing to testify in a wrongful dismissal case brought by a former employee of the State board.
The issue arose as Tricia Brown’s case came up for trial in the San Fernando High Court.
After Brown gave evidence and was cross examined before Justice Frank Seepersad, the commission’s lawyer Frederick Gilkes indicated that although Julien was issued a subpoena and given “conduct money” to attend, he (Julien) said he could not due to a dental emergency.
Gilkes admitted he was concerned, as Julien was possibly avoiding testifying despite still being employed by the State as a manager in the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA).
While Gilkes requested a short adjournment to still allow Julien to testify in the case, he warned that he would pursue contempt of court proceedings if he missed the next hearing.
Seepersad agreed, as he pointed out that Julien should have informed the court of his medical emergency as soon as it occurred, as the trial date had been set months ago and a delay would be a waste of judicial time.
He also noted that officials such as Julien had a responsibility to testify in litigation over issues that arose in their tenure despite no longer being employed at the body.
While Seepersad and Gilkes were discussing the issue, Julien logged into the hybrid hearing from his dentist’s office.
Julien, who was clearly still on the dental chair, indicated that he was forced to undergo an emergency procedure to address a dental condition that had been affecting him for some time.
Seepersad was initially seeking to have Julien testify at that time, but agreed to adjourn the case to Monday after Julien’s dentist, Dr Don Carrington, explained that he would still be in pain from the procedure.
In the lawsuit, Brown is challenging the commission’s decision to terminate her employment in April 2019.
According to her court filings, Brown joined the Ministry of Community Development as a clerical assistant in 2006 and was transferred to the commission, which falls under the purview of the ministry, a year later.
She claimed that between 2016 and 2018, she was asked to perform the role of a human resource officer despite holding the title of administrative assistant.
She claimed that after making numerous enquiries about being compensated for her extra duties, she was told she was being transferred to the commission’s office in San Fernando. She claimed she was asked to hand over a database of employees’ vacation and sick leave compiled by her to a colleague but could not locate the spreadsheet on the computer assigned to her, after it was moved to facilitate her transfer.
The commission initiated an investigation into the missing document and Brown was slapped with disciplinary charges for gross misconduct in early 2019.
Brown obtained an injunction blocking subsequent disciplinary hearings pursuant to the investigation but the commission initiated a new investigation, which eventually led to her termination.
In the lawsuit, Brown is seeking compensation for wrongful dismissal and almost $170,000 in damages, which represents the salary she would have received if her contract was not terminated with over a year to go and if the contract was renewed for a further three years after ending in 2020.
While testifying yesterday, Brown claimed she was unable to remember where she stored the database on the computer, as she was stressed over being transferred.
“At that point in time, I did not know what happened to it,” Brown said.
She claimed she did not think the missing database warranted disciplinary action as her colleague could have easily created a new one using manual records.
Brown is being represented by Farai Hove-Masaisai and Antonya Pierre.