Dismissal in the Employment Rights Act
By Sheena Mayers
Industrial Relations Officer, BEC
This week as we take a look at the Employment Rights Act (ERA), our focus will be on dismissal.
Dismissal and Termination are used interchangeably in the Act, and refer to any situation where
the employer ends the employment relationship. In the past, and under common law, a
wrongful dismissal claim could only be made if the employer breached the terms of the
contract of employment (e.g failure to give required notice). However, the recently proclaimed
ERA has introduced the concept of Unfair Dismissal into Barbadian law.
Unfair dismissal is a dismissal which contravenes the provisions of the statute which created it,
and Section 30 of the ERA has listed reasons that would be considered as unfair, such as:
The dismissal took place as a direct result of the employee being an officer, shop
steward or a safety and health representative or a delegate or member of a trade union.
That reason relates to: the race, colour, gender, age, marital status, religion, political
opinion or affiliation, national extraction, social origin or indigenous origin of the
employee.
The dismissal occurred while the employee was on certified sick leave for less than 12
consecutive months or less than 12 months in any one period of 24 months.
Further, the onus is on the employer to prove that there was good and sufficient reason to
dismiss an employee and the employer must act fairly in terminating the employee. This means
that the employer must evaluate the reason for the dismissal, and Section 29(2) states that an
employer shall have the right to dismiss an employee for a reason which relates to:
the capability of the employee to perform the work he/she was employed to do,
the conduct of the employee,
if the employee is made redundant,