Crane driver without licence 'fired unjustly'

A crane operator has been awarded over €5,000 in compensation after he was fired because he refused to drive a crane he was not licensed to operate.

Anġlu Mallia lost his job in April last year, after he informed his bosses - foreman Anthony Bartolo and director Jason Vassallo of Vassallo Construction Ltd - that he was not going in for work because the licence he needed to drive the crane had not been paid for by the company.

An industrial tribunal heard the company argue that Mr Mallia was fired because he was not carrying out his work properly.

Vassallo Construction claimed that, whenever he was assigned to a job, he would make sure he would leave early no matter how much work was left pending.

He had become very inflexible in his working hours and if he ever received a fine for driving the crane without a licence, the company would have paid it. Appearing for Mr Mallia, lawyer David Gatt told the tribunal that even if the fine were paid by the company it would still have reflected badly on his client.

The tribunal decided he was fired unjustly and ordered the company to pay him €5,329 in compensation.