Payne et Al v National Baking Corporation Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Antigua and Barbuda
• Court: Industrial Court (Antigua)
• Judge: Chairman,Member
• Judgment Date: 13 October 1977
• Date: 13 October 1977

Industrial Court

Harper, J. (Chairman); Techeira, J. (Member); De Freitas, J. (Member)

Payne et al

and

National Baking Corporation Ltd

Industrial Law - Unfair dismissal — Employer appealed again the decision of the Hearing Officer on the ground that his decision was based on personal feelings with insufficient reference to the facts — Board upheld the Hearing Officer's decision, amended in respect of the first worker.

Points of Appeal - The Employer:

1 The employer's side based their appeal on the following points: -

• i. The work pattern of the bakery consisted of “partisan control”, which did not require 6, 7, 8 hours or any given time. The workers had the option to accept or reject this arrangement.

• ii. Mr. Pane and the Managing Director (Mr. Jarvis) were capable of working on 8 bags of flour within an 8 hour period.

• iii. The Hearing Officer's decision gave a worker the right to declare himself tired at any time, stop producing and leave his work unfinished.

• iv. The Hearing Officer's decision was based upon personal feelings, with insufficient reference to the facts.

• v. The summary of the case was done in the absence of the employer's representative as the Hearing Officer and the Union Officer talked.

• vi. Mr. Payne had actually worked for 1 year and 6 months and not 2 years and 6 months, since he had been reinstated in May 1975 after having walked off the job.

Conclusion:

2 The Board met at the Labour Department on Thursday 13th October 1977 and concluded as follows:

• i. Whatever the meaning of “partisan control” may have been, this has no bearing on “section C 26 (5)” of the Labour Code, which provides that the standard workday shall not exceed 8 hours, or on “section C 26. (3)”, which prohibits employers from causing employees to work in excess of 12 hours in any 24 hour period. No exemption order under “section C 26. (4)” has been made by the Minister responsible for Labour.

• ii. The fact that Mr. Payne and the Managing Director were able between them to deal with 8 bags of flour in an 8-hour period works against management's case, since 2 men working at such a rate would have been expected to handle 20 bags of flour in 20 hours. The 2 workers in question, assisted for a short period by the Managing Director, dealt with 20 bags between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.-12 hours.

• iii. The Hearing Officer's decision cannot reasonably be said to give workers the right to declare themselves tired at...