An Appeals Court has ordered the Enemalta Corporation to pay a former employee Lm5,000 in compensation, upholding a decision handed down by an industrial tribunal that she had been dismissed unfairly, but increased the compensation from Lm600 to Lm5,000.

The Appeals Court, presided over by Mr Justice Philip Sciberras, heard that the female employee was dismissed “on medical grounds” after she refused to drive the company car which had a tracking system installed. She insisted that this was detrimental to her heath especially since, at the time, she was pregnant.

The tribunal ruled that the corporation was not justified when it dismissed the employee and awarded her Lm600 in compensation.

Both the employee as well as the corporation appealed the judgement. The employee claimed that she was not awarded enough compensation, which should have included her re-instatement while the corporation said that the tribunal’s decision was null because of legal contradictions.

The Appeals Court ruled that it did not agree with the tribunal’s view that the woman disobeyed orders and therefore increased the compensation to Lm5,000.

Dr Chris Cilia represented the employee.