Industrial Court awards D. Gisele over a quarter of a million dollars in damages

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D. Gisele

 

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.

 

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.”

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31 COMMENTS

  1. Gaston throwing away public taxes and Treasury money with these stupid cases which he loses hands down every time. Seems “King Sue” cannot win a lawsuit. UPP hammering the ALP in court every time.

  2. Well, if this is the THRESH-HOLD for CONSTRUCTIVE DISMISSAL, A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY IS BEING AND HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTIVELY DISMISSED.

    “No representative of the Board of Education was present in court today, nor was Dorsett or any member of his law firm”. It is true that today was closing arguments in the Michael Browne case at the High Court, but they could not have gotten no-one to ‘hold papers’ (me think a dat a wha dem call ummmm – S.M.H.).

    • Beef:Why you do not cry a river of tears.She was wrongfully dismissed.Stick your head into the dirt and let us use you as a football.LOL

    • BEEF I need to know what is threshold for constructive dismissal that you are taking about? The woman was locked out of her office and prevented from performing her duties at the Board of Education. Do you want a clearer example of a case of constructive dismissal than that? Please enlighten me comrade BEEF or do I have to speak to your industrial colleague Anderson Carty?

        • BEEF as you know I really do not have to ask anyone. My comment to you was pure sarcasm. However, I am surprised that you are supposed to be an industrial relations consultant and talking such nonsense. Giselle Isaac was locked out of her office at the Board of Education (perhaps from the advice of Michael Browne or the Cabinet). Do you want a clearer example of CONSTRUCTIVE DISMISSAL? Please stop trying to appease Gaston or supporting your Party in their utter ignorance. I know you have hinted at an appeal of the decision. Please tell Gaston that would be an exercise in futility.

          • Boss, I am not going to waste my time.

            I know what I know.

            “but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God”. Oooops. That might be foreign to you. I forgot you do not believe in God.

          • Charles, You must be more careful with statements like she was locked out “Perhaps from the advice of Michael Brown or the Cabinet” (your words). We don’t want to see you in some kind of legal trouble. Be careful Chuck. Much love and much respect. Don’t agree with you on many things, but you speak your truth, and that impresses me.

  3. Congratulations to you Ms.Isaac. I do not know you personally. However,I know your voice very well on Observer Radio from 3000 miles away. Congratulations,again !!

  5. He has too lose because their were never a case from the beginning. I don’t know who is the legal advisor to him but they need to be fired. They need to do a thorough ground work properly before began to pursue or charged any UPP topnotch for anything. We need to find out the total amount of taxpayers dollars Gaston and his legal team have waste on these foolish political witch-hunt cases. The DPP to need a bull bud. I don’t know anything about law it’s just my responds to the article.

  6. Congratulations is what we are supposed to say, but, ‘vindication is not a celebratory affair’ for the wronged, whose character has been severely attacked in global view, and to someone reduced to a new kind of want – no fixed salary! For years! Holding on to Almighty God a lot, every time you heard your family name dragged in the mud of money! I know how you feel Dame, but consider this, lifting those weights for seven years builds muscle to kick devils to the curb, and robbers of our good name straight to jail!

  9. Congratulations Ms. Issacs. We sure could use that money to fix the water problem in Rural East or put a wheelchair ramp on the back parking lot of the Roach Motel AKA Lester hospital….OH Well!

  10. BEEF you really would be wasting your time to continue with this discussion. Gisele Issac’s case is a clear example of constructive dismissal and you cannot deny that. You apologists and propagandists of the ALP when you cannot counter the message you resort to attacking the messenger as you are doing now. I am the one who is really wasting my time in engaging in a pointless discussion with you. Any appeal of the decision of the Industrial Court would be futile. As an advisor to Gaston you hinted at that possibility. Well Boss rethink your advice.

  11. Celebrating a person who allegedly gave themselves a 100% increase from the government’s purse as politicians and their cronies get rich from the people’s purse and then the same people depending on which party is in governance, expecting government to find monies to provide basic essentials to the public. Is it that people has so much distaste for the leader of a Party that any awards to the opposing side is celebrated? No wonder the country is in the mess it is in now financially.

    • I glad you said allegedly as the board had to approve any salary increase. When a government goes after persons solely for being part of the opposition, that person is entitled to whatever damages the court decides. Any damages should come out of the vindictive peoples’ pockets and not the government.

  12. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD SAVE YOUR DISTAIN FOR A WICKED AND VINDICTIVE GOVERNMENT THAT SEEKS TO ENRICH ITSELF PERSONALLY AS MANDATED BY THE PRIME MINISTER WHILE USING THE INSTRUMENTS OF GOVERNMENT TO GO AFTER ITS POLITICAL OPPONENTS.

    BY THE WAY, WHEN LAST DID YOU GET GOVERNMENT WATER BY YOUR HOUSE

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