A former employee of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has been awarded nearly €99,000 in damages after a court ruled that the MTA had failed to guarantee his conditions of employment when he was assigned to work with WasteServ Malta Ltd.

The court heard that in October 1999 Carmel D'Amato was employed by the MTA as a senior manager and that in 2001 he had been promoted to finance director.

MTA had undergone a restructuring process and had decided that it no longer had a post for Mr D'Amato. He was transferred to Industrial Projects Services Ltd (IPSL) which found a job for him with WasteServ.

But the court found that Mr D'Amato's conditions of work at WasteServ were inferior to those he had enjoyed at MTA.

When referring to Mr D'Amato's contract of employment with MTA, Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon pointed out that MTA had reserved the right to assign Mr D'Amato to another appointment within the same grade and with the same conditions.

In fact, when the restructuring process took place, Mr D'Amato had been assured that his employment and salary would be guaranteed.

However, Mr Justice Zammit McKeon noted that Mr D'Amato's conditions of employment with WAsteServ were inferior to those he had when working with MTA.

Although the MTA had claimed that it was not satisfied with Mr D'Amato's work, it did not dismiss him. Furthermore, one of Mr D'Amato's colleagues at the MTA had testified that he was satisfied with Mr D'Amato's performance.

Thus, MTA was liable towards Mr D'Amato for the damages he had sustained.

Mr Justice Zammit McKeon added that it was a principle of good administration that when a decision was to be taken about an employee, the employee was to be given the reasons for the decision and the opportunity to express himself. The MTA had not abided by this principle in Mr D'Amato's case.

In conclusion the court found in favour of Mr D'Amato and ordered MTA to pay him €98,920.51 in damages.