Judge Orders LTA to Reinstate Former Staff

Karan was an information technology support officer in 2014.

The Employment Relations Tribunal of Fiji has ordered the Land Transport Authority ( LTA) to reinstate its former employee to his position and pay a sum of $ 38,690.29 for unlawful termination of employment. Resident Magistrate Indula Ratnayake in the ruling on September 24 said the decision for the authority to dismiss Praveen Vikash Karan was unlawful.

Karan’s lawyer, Filimoni Vosarogo, filed an employment grievance seeking reinstatement and compensation for lost benefits and wages for 20 months and 12 days.

Karan was an information technology support officer in 2014 and was holding the position of acting team leader in the photographic traffic infringement processing unit in January 2018.

He was suspended for allegedly disregarding the human resources policy and for tampering with a tender process and for undermining the integrity of the authority by disclosing confidential information to third parties.

The authority gave Karan a final warning, to transfer him to the enforcement department, to monitor his performance for three months, and to pay four months’ salary for the period he was suspended without pay.

Authority had informed Karan to resume duties from September 13, 2018, and that he had the right to appeal against the disciplinary order. Karan informed LTA that he would not resume work since he did not agree with those terms, and had asked to be reinstated in the IT department with wages back-dated.

But on October 11, 2018, the authority terminated Karan’s employment on the basis that Karan’s action was classified as gross misconduct. Magistrate Ratnayake ordered that LTA was to reinstate Karan to his former position and also ordered the authority to pay the sum of $38,690.29 to Karan for unlawful termination of employment.

No order on costs was made.