A ruling by Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett might deter Bahamian workers with “marginal claims” from pursuing employment cases in the Supreme Court, rather than the Industrial Tribunal, a leading law firm arguing that it dramatically reduces the ‘costs’ leverage they can exert.
Higgs & Johnson, in its latest client bulletin dealing with the award of legal costs in employment actions, said a March 2010 ruling by Sir Michael could “remove a tool from the arsenal of the vexatious litigant” seeking to pressure a company into settlement, as he declined to award legal costs to a wrongfully dismissed employee who one their case.
Sir Michael did so on the grounds that the complaint could have been brought before the Industrial Tribunal, which he described as the mechanism created by Parliament for resolving employment-related disputes. Legal costs cannot be awarded by the Tribunal, so the Chief Justice reasoned that the employee should not be entitled to them as a result of taking the matter to the Supreme Court.
