OCTOBER 12TH, 2018 – OCTOBER 19TH, 2018
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VOLUME 14 - NO. 41
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LABOUR TRIBUNAL BEING CHALLENGED IN COURT by Hayden Boyce Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
O
ne of the top lawyers in the Turks and Caicos Islands believes the Labour Tribunal has been operating unlawfully and unconstitutionally, and he is going to the Court of Appeal to argue his case. Queen’s Counsel Conrad Griffiths, of the law firm Griffiths & Partners, told The SUN that the Labour Tribunal has been deciding very important cases involving peoples’ rights without a qualified attorney heading that tribunal. He noted that the law clearly states that the president of the Labour Tribunal must be a qualified attorney of now less than seven years. However, the last president Arthur Forbes has a law degree but is not qualified as a lawyer, and the persons who were acting in the position while he was suspended, are not qualified attorneys either. Griffiths case, which is expected to be heard by the Court of Appeal in November 2018, is being brought on behalf of an employee who is appealing a wrongful dismissal decision that was handed down by the Labour Tribunal. The Queen’s Counsel is also contending that the Labour Tribunal is a judicial tribunal and that judges in the Turks and Caicos Islands can only be appointed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) which did not appoint any of the Tribunal’s presidents who were all political appointments. In the court documents which were seen by The SUN, Griffiths’ appeal raises a Constitutional question as to whether the creation of the Tribunal contravened the Constitution and the Tribunal is therefore unlawful and invalid; a question as to whether the Tribunal is properly constituted in the absence of a
46 recipients awarded at 2018 National Honours and Awards ceremony Fourty-Six persons in Turks and Caicos Islands were recipients at the 2018 National Honours and Awards ceremony and received
awards for their life’s work The 4th annual National Honours and Awards ceremony was held at the H.J.
Robinson High School Auditorium in Grand Turk, on Monday October 8th, 2018. (See Page 22 & 23 for more photographs).
President; and arguments over the judicial functions. He noted that at all erroneous nature of the Decision due to material times the TCI has been subject the misapplication of the law to the facts. to a written Constitution which has It was noted that unlike limited the competence and power of the United Kingdom where the the Legislature to create new ‘judicial’ sovereignty of Parliament prevails, the bodies or judicial powers in institutions TCI has at all material times had a other than pre-existing courts. written Constitution under which the He is also arguing that the Legislature’s power to make laws is word “court” is defined in Part I, section defined and is limited in scope. 22(1) of the TCI Constitution to mean: Under Part IV (The Legislature) “any court of law or tribunal having section 61 of the TCI Constitution jurisdiction in the Islands…” (emphasis [Authorities TAB 1] provides: Power added) to make laws- 61. Subject to this This definition, he said, applies Constitution, the Legislature may make only to the Interpretation of Part I: laws for the peace, order and good Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the government of the Islands. Individual. It cannot be taken to imply a Griffiths contends the power in the Legislature to create courts Legislature had no power to create or tribunals other than those specified in a judicial body or tribunal such as the TCI Constitution for the exercise of the Tribunal which plainly performs judicial powers. Section 131(1) provides
general definitions applicable to the TCI Constitution as a whole; the word “court” is not among them. Griffths is expected to argue that the creation of a judicial body administered by persons who have no legal qualifications is contrary to and outwith the scheme of Part V of the Constitution which prescribes what constitutes the Judicature. It was noted that Part Five of the Constitution directly or indirectly mandates minimum legal qualifications and experience for those who hold judicial appointments in the Judicature, therefore the Legislature cannot circumvent Constitutional protections by arrogating to itself a power it does not have to create a new judicial body which exists outside the protections of Part V of the Constitution.
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