The Industrial Court has ordered Marble Villas, a boutique property management and real estate firm, to pay a former assistant electrician EC$22,250 after finding that the company fabricated a redundancy to terminate his employment and then pressured him into signing away his right to sue on the same day he was fired.

Iwandy Daniel, who worked with the company from February 2016, was handed a termination letter on January 20, 2023 and a severance agreement simultaneously, and told he would not receive his severance pay unless he signed the release immediately.

According to the judgement, Daniel signed, without legal advice, without time to verify the figures, and without knowing the calculation was wrong.

The Industrial Court, in its ruling delivered on April 24, found that the company’s conduct was harsh, oppressive and not in accordance with good industrial relations practices.

“A document which asserts voluntary execution does not become voluntarily executed merely because it says so,” the court wrote.

Daniel earned a gross weekly wage of $750 at the time of his dismissal, nearly seven years into his employment with the company, which was involved in major construction projects including one that now houses the Cuban Embassy.

His termination letter cited economic conditions and the absence of major construction projects as the reason for making his position redundant, however no other employee was let go.

The court was, therefore, not persuaded that any genuine redundancy existed as Daniel’s direct supervisor and senior electrician, Linroy Gardner, acknowledged in cross-examination that work could come and go as recently as January 2023 and that he was able to engage Daniel for full weeks at a time.

Gardner also confirmed he would sometimes transport Daniel to work at a separate business.

The court found that evidence flatly contradicted the company’s position that electrical work had dried up to the point where only one electrician was needed.

The company produced no financial records, no accounts and no contracts that did not materialise to support its claim of declining business activity.

The court also noted that Daniel’s salary was never reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, that his hours were never cut, and that none of this was challenged by any documentary evidence from the employer.

“The selection of a single employee for redundancy without any criteria, pool or comparative exercise does not carry the hallmarks of a genuine redundancy driven by business need,” the judgment states.

The court also found that even if a genuine redundancy had existed, the manner by which it was carried out fell far short of the standard required.

Daniel received his termination letter advising that his employment would end three days prior and no meaningful consultation had taken place despite the company having been reviewing its staffing since July 2020.

On the severance agreement, the court found all three elements of economic duress were present.

The company knew Daniel’s mortgage was being serviced by salary assignment, that he was the main breadwinner in his household, and used that financial vulnerability to extract a waiver of his statutory right to seek compensation for unfair dismissal.

The court held the agreement voidable and found Daniel had acted promptly in avoiding it once he discovered the severance had been incorrectly calculated.

Daniel reportedly questioned the timing of his dismissal during the hearing where days before receiving his termination letter, a third party had visited the company’s premises, confronted him about a social media video showing him alongside the late parliamentarian Asot Michael at a Caribbean Union Bank event on January 12, 2023, and told him the video would be shown to the company’s principal, and that he would be fired.

Daniel maintained his involvement in Michael’s election campaign was conducted entirely on personal time.

The court made no specific finding as to whether political motivation was involved in the matter, as the termination letter stated exclusively economic grounds and the company was bound by that reason under the Labour Code.

The total compensation awarded was EC$35,450, covering loss of protection, immediate and future loss of earnings, exemplary damages and costs.

After deducting the EC$13,200 already paid in severance, shortfall and notice pay, the residual sum of EC$22,250 is due to Daniel on or before May 24, 2026.