Two disabled technicians filed a judicial protest against GO following their indefinite suspension from work after 30 years of service.

Paul Vella, 56 and Anthony Micallef, 48, both registered members of National Commission for Persons with a Disability, had been employed as telecoms technicians at GO, before being deployed to KVH Computers since 2015.

Having always abided by instructions and carried out their duties to the best of their abilities, the two employees could not understand why, on September 11, GO issued a direct order calling for their ‘indefinite suspension’ from their job.

They were informed they were being indefinitely suspended and ‘therefore blacklisted’. They were also asked to hand in their tools, stock and GO identity tag.

Repeated efforts to obtain some form of explanation drew a blank, leaving them with no option but to file a judicial protest filed in the First Hall, Civil Court against GO and KVH Computers.

They claimed that such a decision on the part of their employers amounted to a breach of their fundamental rights as well as a violation of employment legislation.

Not only had they not been provided with any opportunity to defend their position, they had also not been given a reason or explanation for their suspension, making this an unjustified one entitling them to an adequate compensation in terms of law.

Moreover, given that GO regularly made use of the services of KVH Computers, the decision reached by the former could be viewed as amounting to an ‘abuse of a dominant position,’ the court was told.

Such a decision also fell foul of the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons which provided for the protection of such individuals from discrimination on the basis of their impairment, including that suffered at the workplace.

In the light of such circumstances, the protesting parties called upon their immediate reinstatement and held their employers liable in damages.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Graziella Cricchiola signed the judicial act.