Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Retroactive promotions

The Trinidad & Tobago Defence Force has been ordered to afford retroactive promotion to two officers. Details here. The court's opinion is not yet available on the judiciary website. Excerpt from T&T Newsday:

Both officers are also to receive their accrued salaries and benefits and were also awarded vindicatory damages for the breach of their rights.

In both cases, the judge said the award of vindicatory damages was ordered to act as a deterrence. In Rudder.Fisher’s case, she added, “There must be some sense of outrage about the insensitive and laissez-faire approach the relevant authorities took in failing to treat the claimant’s complaint which he had been actively pursuing for years.

“Further, it is important that the court signals to the defendants that a breach of the claimant’s rights under sections 4(b) and (d)of the Constitution is significant and therefore it should serve to act as a deterrence from further breaches.”

She added, “In my opinion, the declarations which the claimant has sought are not sufficient to vindicate the clear breach of his constitutional rights as the defendants’ actions caused him to lose seniority without justification.

“I was satisfied that there was significant distress caused to the claimant in the instant case as his loss of seniority was significant.

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