A former restaurant manager of the Tunny Net Restaurant in Mellieha Bay had the Lm5,000 award he obtained from an industrial tribunal following his dismissal confirmed by the Appeals Court last week.

Kenneth Vella started working with Seabank Catering as a payroll clerk in September 1996 and in a short time was appointed Assistant Food and Beverage Operations manager and later Complex Manager at the Tunny Net Complex.

In February 2005, while he was on leave, the company arranged that two cooks be sent to Italy for a fortnight for training. However, one of the cooks resigned from his job and Mr Vella was ordered to go to Italy instead. He proposed another cook, who declined. As Mr Vella refused to go because he had other commitments he was told that had he lost his job. As a last resort, the company offered him a job in the kitchens but when he refused he was sacked.

In its defence, the company tried to paint a negative image of Mr Vella as a person too dependent on the company’s top officials, so much so that they felt they had to find out what was going on in the complex. The company also claimed Mr Vella asked for a double bonus to leave.

The tribunal considered that in just five years and five months with the company, Mr Vella had been given many promotions and the only mark against his name in the company’s records was for a small misdeed. It consequently ruled that Mr Vella lost his job because he had refused to go to Italy and awarded him Lm5,000 compensation.

The company appealed but the Appeals Court, presided over by Mr Justice Philip Sciberras, ruled that an appeal could be upheld only on a point of law not on a point of fact and upheld the tribunal’s judgement.