Smith has say before ERT

Former General Secretary of the island’s largest public sector trade union took her case for unfair dismissal before the Employment Rights Tribunal where she said she believed that the age of maturity for the employees’ pension plan was 67.

In the highly-anticipated hearing, Roslyn Smith was on Thursday questioned about the National Union of Public Workers’ (NUPW) pension plan during the hour-long virtual proceeding.

Opposing counsel attorney-at-law Codie Hinds suggested to Smith that the date of the maturity of the plan was 65 years.

Disagreeing with this, Smith said her understanding was that it had been approved and adjusted by the union’s council to the age of 67.

However, Hinds insisted that the approval of the Council had not been granted for the adjustment and as such the maturity date was in fact 65.

Smith served in the post of General Secretary for 47 years before being retired by the NUPW on March 31, 2019, following seven months of hospitalization at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) between December 2018 and July 2019.

She was 65 years old at the time of retirement.

During the cross examination, the tribunal heard that during the initial stage of her hospitalization, the union passed a motion to extend Smith’s contractual date of retirement to March 31, 2019.

In addition, it heard that during that month, a memorandum was sent from the President of the NUPW indicating that a further extension would not be given as the union was scheduled to hold elections in April 2019.

After confirming Smith had been paid during her sick leave, Hinds ended his cross-examination.

Smith is seeking close to $500 000 in compensation for unfair dismissal.

The tribunal is being chaired by Justice Christopher Blackman and it is scheduled to resume the hearing on Monday, February 6 at 10 a.m. (JB)