Three doctors who were unfairly dismissed from St Philip’s Hospital have each been awarded Lm1,000 compensation by an industrial tribunal.

In its judgement on the three separate cases, the tribunal, chaired by Harold Walls, declared that the doctors – Dr Stefan Fenech, Dr Glorianne Briffa and Dr Maria Iris Felice Klaumann – had been unfairly dismissed by the management of St Philip’s Hospital.

The three doctors were employed as part-time resident medical officers at the hospital. The tribunal heard how on 22 October 2003, the hospital management informed them that their employment was being terminated and they would have become self-employed.

Upon verification with the Employment and Training Corporation, the doctors discovered that their termination of employment had been backdated to 31 August 2003.

The hospital management said the three doctors were seeing private patients on the hospital premises and that these were not covered by the hospital’s insurance policy since the doctors were not working exclusively for the hospital.

In his judgement, Mr Walls said the hospital management should have taken the necessary measures to resolve the problem with regard to the hospital’s insurance policy.

The tribunal said the hospital management had, without justification, failed to inform the doctors that their employment had been terminated. Moreover, it said, the hospital management had not requested authorisation to inform the ETC about the change of their employment status to self-employed.

The tribunal ordered the hospital management to pay Lm1,000 compensation to each of the doctors and also to pay them what they were due before their dismissal.