Greens Supermarket Ltd has been ordered to pay an employee €17,000 after its appeal to overturn a decision by the Industrial Tribunal was rejected.

The judgement, handed down by Judge Lawrence Mintoff on 13th October, related to the case of Asrat Teshome Million, who told colleagues in the maintenance department in which he worked that he would claim sick leave if he were ordered to report for work in Gozo.

When he did precisely that, he was laid off, with the medical certificate he presented upon his return not accepted by the company, which instead informed him that his employment had been terminated.

However, both the Industrial Tribunal, in a December 2022 judgement, and the Court of Appeal found the dismissal to be disproportionate to his alleged wrongdoing.

Defending its decision, Greens Supermarket claimed that there were other times where Mr Million had failed to report for work or left work early, and this behaviour had been noted several times by those responsible for his department.

Therefore, according to the company, his dismissal was entirely proportionate as he had previously been given warnings in relation to episodes where he “showed a lack of interest to cooperate”, leading up to a final decision being taken due to the Gozo incident.

Aggravating the issue was the company’s claim that Mr Million had actually told his colleagues that he would claim to be ill if he were asked to work in in Gozo.

On this particular occasion in April 2021, he was ordered to report for work at the company’s Gozo outlet. Mr Million, claimed Greens, did not show up to work without even informing his superiors.

Aggravating the issue was the company’s claim that Mr Million had actually told his colleagues that he would claim to be ill if he were asked to work in in Gozo.

Witnesses from Greens Supermarket’s HR departments explained that it was only four days later that he turned up, presenting a medical certificate, although at that point a decision had already been taken, by the company’s Board, to fire him.

In its decision, the Court took into consideration the fact that Mr Million had been employed by Greens for seven years, arguing that such a longstanding relationship should not have been terminated without the employee being given the chance to explain his absence from work.

Testimony showed that the decision to sack Mr Million was made without giving him the chance to defend his actions.

“Even worse, he was informed of his dismissal as he was presenting his medical certificate, meaning that the company did not verify whether his absence on that particular day was justifiable,” reads the Court’s report.

The Court agreed with the Industrial Tribunal’s observation that the reason provided by Greens Supermarkets for its decision to lay off Mr Million is not legally justifiable, and was not proportionate to his alleged wrongdoing.

Despite the company’s claims that the employee had been given previous warnings, no concrete evidence was presented. Allegations that he failed to fulfil some of his duties were also unfounded, according to the Court.

The Court therefore rejected Greens Supermarket’s appeal, and upheld in the decision taken by the Industrial Tribunal in its entirety.