Industrial Court awards D. Gisele over a quarter of a million dollars in damages
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Seven years after it began, the matter between D.Gisele Isaac and the Board of Education (BoE) wrapped up in the Industrial Court today, December 8 – at least for now.
The judgment was delivered by the President of the Court, which awarded damages of more than a quarter of a million dollars to Isaac and cost to her attorney, Justin Simon, Q.C.
The BoE, in a December 2020 hearing, had admitted liability, stating that it had no defense for her constructive dismissal in August 2014.
The Board, represented by Dr. David Dorsett, had agreed, then, that severance and notice pay were in order, but had opposed the payment of any damages to Isaac.
Subsequent attempts to arrive at a settlement failed, and the matter reverted to the Industrial Court for judgment.
While the quantum of the judgment is now open to possible appeal, the Court has ordered that Isaac be paid by the end of March 2022.
No representative of the Board of Education was present in court today, nor was Dorsett or any member of his law firm.
This case began with Isaac’s suspension from her position as Executive Secretary of the BoE in July 2014 and being locked out of her office one month later. She was never recalled to the job she had held since January 2001.
The matter made its way to the Labour Commissioner and then to the Industrial Court and on the Court of Appeal, with Isaac winning at every stage.
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Meanwhile, the related case in which she is suing former Education Minister Michael Browne and Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin (on behalf of the Cabinet) is yet to be heard, three years and seven months after her victory at the Privy Council.
Isaac says she has no comment to make until she has “heard from the other side.”
3 responses to “PM says he told Michael Browne not to go to court with D. Gisele and Serpent. The minister went rouge”
Wow! Wow! Mouth open tourey jump out. So Mr. PM your ministers are allowed to do whatever they want with tax payers monies and you do not know? Are the Ministers allowed to disobey the entire cabinet members & get away with It? If what you are saying Is true sir, then Michael Browne should be fired forthwith. When I think of the E-book scandal & now this saga that the other cabinet members did not give approval to I shudder to think of “What else”. Children were thrown out of Universities for lack of payment and he Michael Browne could have authorized Thousand of tax payers dollars to show D GISELLE & Serpent who the boss was. I am sorry for my country. I am sorry for my children & grandchildren. I am sorry for Us the pensio ers. My heart Is heavy after reading & listening to the clip. I am BEGGING someone e to come rescue Antigua quick. 😪😢
Me na Sorry foo de Michael Brown.Them all want to look good and sound powerful in this country. Maybe you right PM done them .Anthony Smith and UPP the more Gaston squeal about his ministers lawd me belly he better for UPP.JoAnn was so right.Buncch of clowns my Lawb, them all love pappy show and circus.
Does Micheal Browne feel that he is more superior than the Prime Minister? hmm. This is the fourth case where persons have gone and reported matters to top position members about the minister’s behaviour and their pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears. In my humblest opinion, it is no longer good enough to say ” i am not aware” or “we told him not to” Michael Browne works in conjunction with the Cabinet and for the people! I am glad that you are speaking out Mr. PM. However, I feel it may be a little too late for the damage has been done. The former minister of education has called into questions many persons’ character based on whims, victimization, and his ego. (This may not be the party’s mantra, but it is his. Which he is attached to your party aligning your party with his behaviour).Once again muddying person’s name and character. The bible states a good name is worth more than riches. So, when he nasties up a person’s name, their worth, their legacy, the person’s character is severely diminished. However, when a member of your cabinet continually single handedly tries to take down several persons who he sees as threats, it becomes very concerning and disheartening. Slandering, destroying a persons character, causing them emotional distress, humiliating them and making a public spectacle out of them is not in my opinion an admirable quality for any politician to have. Are you aware after a persons sets out to destroy you character publicly it is very difficult to build it back? Sometimes it becomes impossible, to clean up your name that has been slandered and tarnished on a small island such as ours. I am curious to know how many more innocents persons needs to be a casualty of war. Furthermore, I dont feel that it is acceptable anymore to say its “unfortunate” especially when your citizens are the one’s that are being harmed. As I sit and ponder, I dont think person’s really understand the electoral system. Brothers and sisters, the politicians have conditioned our minds and has forced us to think that they have power over us. But in reality, the politicians work for us, not us working for the politicians!! In layman’s term The former minister works for the people of Antigua and Barbuda and the former minister of education boss is the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. Politicians must realized we voted them into power and we have the power to take out any politician who is abusing their power while in office. So many politicians have forgotton this tidbit of information. As an avid reading I am not conditioned by sensationalism. However, I have came across so many clippings in the newspaper regarding the former Minister of Education and his ability to sniff out fraud, insubordination, theft, mismanagement and God knows what else. But what I don’t understand is why arent the other members of the cabinet not able to possess the same super powers as the former minister and why are they not as equally court happy? Is there any one in the cabinet that could have said No Mr. Browne. You are going to far! Not even one. So, I commend the PM for speaking out and providing the people with a little more insight as to what truly happened. My next pondering question is why did so many individuals have to undergo this horrific experience by the former minister of education. Why wasnt he stopped in his track? Was it to teach those individuals a lesson? When one takes away a person time, it messes with their money. The former minister of education messed with these individuals time, money, humiliated them, caused them emotional distress and assassinated their character. Was that apart of the ploy to keep persons in line, to ensure that they stayed in their lane. Was it to ensure that they would have to pay exorbitant legal fees which will remind the individual who has the real power. That is the real lesson you will learn. As these victims fall pray to this taught lesson, not one dollar is shed by the politician. So the person without the means will give up and concede and the strong in mind and supported will fight. But the irony of this situation, It is a the victims who have to pay thousands of of dollars for legal representation will always lose and so will the taxpayers , whose money every month is takiing out to facilitate witch hunts. This money needs to come out of politicians pockets. He should pay back the board for taking the money for the investigation and for the failed experiment of the ebooks. Lets remove politics out of it for a minute. I feel that D Giselle is in her right to receive that settlement. No amount of money will ever compensate her for the humiliation and emotional distress she faced. For me alone, she should be awarded 2 millions dollars paid by the former minister’s salary. Do you think Serpant will ever forget not being with his father in Montserrat as he took his last breath (This brought tears to my eyes)? He could nt see his father because he had to surrender his travel documents because of a witch hunt. Former Principal at ASC will never ever forgot what was done as well. School meals management, the Ebooks scandal, the list goes on and on. We will never forget. But my grandie always says ” time is longer than rope” and “the same whip that whips the tail is the same whip that will whip the head”. Election time is finally here and we need to remember these stories. We need to remember these clippings. We need to remember these tears. We can no longer sweep these stories under the carpet. Many of these politicians only want us for one reason. Election Day! After that, you are discarded until the next time an election is called. Finally, when you destroy a member of the soil, it has a rippling effect. It will affect every family member and every friend that carried the weight of that individual tears. That equates to you will lose votes. Food for thought- Do you know why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird? Because a mockingbird is one of God’s creatures that will not harm anyone. All they do is make beautiful music and harms no one around them. Become more of a Mockingbird and not an eagle.