A court has ordered HSBC Bank Malta to pay more than €600,000 in damages to the heirs of a former employee successfully argued that the disciplinary board that had sacked her was not impartial and that the proceedings were unjust.

Johanna Abela was a Private Clients Managere at HSBC Bank Malta. She was authorized by the MFSA to give financial advice related to high net worth clients.

In March 2004 she was suspended indefinitely and the following April she was served with a Letter of Charge, accusing her of gross misconduct.  She was found guilty by a board, composed of members “who depended on the bank for their living.” Mrs Abela had appealed the decision which was, however, confirmed.

Mrs Abela claimed that there were serious fundamental defects in the procedure, including that the board had relied an anonymous document, she was not allowed to cross-examine the persons who gave evidence against her and she was also not allowed to produce her own witnesses.

The plaintiff claimed that the board was not independent and impartial – it included a bank official who had issued her suspension. She was refused access to the case files and the investigation was carried out behind her back. Mrs Abela also said the whole case had started as a form of retaliation by two of her superiors, a husband and wife, who had “turned her into a scapegoat” after the bankers’ union complained about their situation and “dictatorial” style.

Mrs Abela also claimed that the bank had defamed her even before the case was closed when it accused her of gross misconduct with the MFSA.  The investigation was unjust and breached the principles of natural justice, she said, also adding that she had been a victim of sexual harassment by a bank manager, and the bank had “failed to protect her.”

Mrs Abela, through her lawyer Dr Tonio Azzopardi, asked the court to declare the disciplinary proceedings as unjust and declare them null. She also demanded that the bank inform the MFSA of the new development and declare that the bank was and is still causing damages, including psychological, to the complainant. She demanded damages, including for loss of earnings and compensation.

The bank denied Mrs Abela’s claims and said the procedure should have been opened before the relevant court or tribunal. It also said that Mrs Abela’s claims did not mean that the charge against her was incorrect. It refused the claim that Mrs Abela was not given the case file and said it had no objection in providing her with a copy of the decision

A member of the disciplinary board told the court that Mrs Abela had been assisted by her lawyer and that she was given a copy of all the evidence.  He confirmed that the investigation files were not confirmed by the bank and that Mrs Abela was not allowed to bring in her own witnesses, for procedure did not allow this. He confirmed that Mrs Abela was not present during the investigation and that the board did not investigate claims that her superiors had made her a scapegoat.

Madame Justice Jacqueline Padovani Grima upheld Mrs Abela’s arguments about the disciplinary board but dismissed the sexual harassment claims. The Judge also said that, with regard to the claims that the disciplinary proceedings were some sort of revenge by the husband-wife duo at the bank could not be proven to the degree required by law.

The court heard that Mrs Abela had suffered from “reactive depressive anxiety disorder, precipitated by stress and trauma caused by problems she had encountered as a result of her occupational situation.”

She felt bullied and a scapegoat and her self-esteem had been shattered. She began suffering from panic attacks in public. She felt that her integrity and dignity had been undermined.

Mrs Abela had claimed that her cancer came about as a result of stress but the court said there is still no medical proof about a correlation between cancer and stress.

In working out the compensation that should be awarded to Mrs Abela, the court heard that a Private Clients Manager earned a minimum of €90,000 a year. Mrs Abela had gone on sick leave with full pay until March 2005, and on half pay until August of the same year, when the bank stopped paying her. She passed away in 2013.  The court awarded her heirs a total of €603,000.