A former lecturer at the University of T&T (UTT) has lost his lawsuit against his former employer, over being made redundant in 2018 with 14 months left on his contract.
Delivering an oral judgement at the end of a brief in-person trial at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain yesterday, High Court Judge Frank Seepersad dismissed the breach of contract/unfair dismissal lawsuit brought by Dr Rabindranath Ramsaroop.
According to the evidence in the case, Dr Ramsaroop, who holds a PhD in Engineering, was hired on a three-year contract by the State-funded tertiary institution to hold the post of Senior Instructor for Design and Manufacturing Systems in July 2006.
Dr Ramsaroop received several contract extensions, the most recent of which came in September 2016.
However, in May 2018, UTT informed him that it would be terminating his contract due to redundancy.
UTT paid Dr Ramsaroop $150,535.20, which represented one month’s salary and benefits, as well as severance pay.
Dr Ramsaroop then filed the lawsuit seeking $327,676.75 in compensation, which represents the salary and benefits he would have received if his contract was not prematurely terminated.
In the lawsuit, Justice Seepersad had to determine whether UTT could have terminated the contract based on a clause, which allowed for such in circumstances where there were unforeseen changes in the university’s operational requirements.
In his judgement, Seepersad noted that when Dr Ramsaroop was first hired, UTT did not have funding issues that arose when he was eventually deemed redundant.
“It cannot be said that UTT could have predicted the quantum of funding it would receive and when faced with the reality of a reduced budgetary allocation, its survival depended on making necessary adjustments,” Seepersad said.
He ruled that UTT was not unjustified in taking the action.
“It was unfortunate but necessary,” he said.
Seepersad also noted that while UTT was only required to give Dr Ramsaroop one month’s salary and benefits upon termination, as his contract was not covered by the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act, it still used the provisions of the legislation to give him severance pay.
“The court is of the view that the university handled the situation with empathy and compassion...It was a gratuitous position adopted by UTT, which was under no legal obligation to pay,” he said.
Seepersad also noted that he was pleased that Dr Ramsaroop was able to find alternative employment after the termination of the contract, as a chemistry teacher at a private secondary school.
While Seepersad ruled that lawsuit was devoid of merit, he did not order Dr Ramsaroop to pay UTT’s full legal costs as he ruled that there was some lack of clarity in the contract that required judicial interpretation.
Dr Ramsaroop was represented by Glen Bhagwansingh, while Stephen Singh and Amanda Adimoolah represented UTT.
