A former manager at Malta Drydocks was awarded €30,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal and discrimination when the shipyard reform took place in 2003.

The ruling was delivered yesterday by the Industrial Tribunal, 13 years after Lawrence Bilocca filed his case against Malta Drydocks. The compensation must be paid within 30 days by the government, which was the sole shareholder at Malta Drydocks.

Former prime minister and industrial relations lawyer Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici appeared for Mr Bilocca.

Mr Bilocca was the only manager not to be transferred to Malta Shipyards Ltd when Malta Drydocks and Malta Shipbuilding were fused.

The 2003 reform saw both loss-making State companies disbanded and their functions taken over by Malta Shipyards – a State company – as the government absorbed millions in debt.

Mr Bilocca worked as a financial controller with Malta Drydocks and had been a manager for 28 years. However, in November 2003, he was informed that he was not going to be transferred to the new company while all the other managers, with less experience than him, were absorbed.

Mr Bilocca claimed that an accountant – who had just been engaged on a definite contract a week earlier – was transferred to Malta Shipyards. He also claimed his job was given to another person, who had been employed on a definite contract with one of the defunct companies, two years earlier.

In his testimony, Mr Bilocca said that he was only offered alternative employment at the law courts by Industrial Projects and Services Ltd – a State company set up to absorb the excess shipyard workers  – when he filed the tribunal case.

The tribunal noted that the job offered at the law courts was not in his line of work and Mr Bilocca lost certain perks he had enjoyed. The tribunal dismissed the testimony of company officials, who said Mr Bilocca had presented difficulties which were a result of demotivation caused by political interference over the years.

The tribunal noted that no disciplinary action or warning was ever issued in Mr Bilocca’s regard. It also found fault with the fact that rather than being offered a managerial role with the new company, Mr Bilocca was kicked out and yet Malta Shipyard continued employing managers for up to a year after the reform.

The tribunal ruled that Mr Bilocca was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against since there was no plausible reason that he was the only manager not to be taken on board with the new company.

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