JRF files for court order in IDT dispute
Published:Monday | August 16, 2021 | 12:46 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The Jamaican Redevelopment Foundation (JRF) Inc, which has filed a constitutional lawsuit against the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT), claiming that it is not an independent and impartial arbiter of labour conflict, is now seeking the help of the Supreme Court to have the matter heard before February 2024 or to suspend the IDT matter that had given rise to the lawsuit.
The JRF currently has a labour dispute before the IDT over the termination of former employee Margaret Curtis’ contract.
However, when the matter came up last week, the hearing was notified by JRF’s lawyer, Gavin Goffe, that he had filed an application for a court order in the Supreme Court to stay proceedings in the IDT matter with Curtis, pending the hearing of the claim, or to have it heard at an earlier date.
Among the grounds submitted for the court order application is that it is the consistent practice of the IDT to stay proceedings when there is a challenge to its authority or a decision in the Supreme Court.
The foundation is arguing that it will stand irredeemable prejudice should the IDT determine the dispute against it, should it be faced with an immediate obligation to satisfy any financial award made in favour of Curtis or face risk of criminal prosecution.
In addition, the JRF says that it has no viable means of recovering any sums paid to Curtis in satisfaction of an award by the IDT if the Supreme Court determines the claim in the foundation’s favour.
The JRF is also contending that it is likely to incur significant legal costs in pursuing proceedings before the IDT in circumstances where the validity of those proceedings is impugned in the claim.
The IDT has, however, scheduled September 22 and 29 for the continuation of the labour dispute hearing.
The foundation, in its constitutional claim that was filed in May against the attorney general and the IDT, is seeking a declaration from the court that Sections 7 (2) and 8(2) (c) of the Labour Relations Act and the Industrial Disputes Act, as well as Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 of the second schedule to the act, are in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers and the right to due process under Section 16(2) of the Constitution.
It also wants the court to find that the tribunal, as currently empanelled, is unconstitutional.
The JRF is a debt-collection agency that acquired the largest portfolio of distressed debt sold by the Jamaican Government in the aftermath of the 1990s financial meltdown.