Chapter “Without Just Cause” | The employer will have to pay a former employee $115,000

Thus, the Administrative Labor Court has just ruled on the amount to be paid to the complainant, after the first court decision issued in 2022 upheld her complaint of dismissal without just and sufficient cause.

The worker was fired at the age of 70 in 2018; I have worked for this employer since 1993 and part-time since 2015.

Before the court, when determining the amount to be paid to the complainant, the employer claimed that he was “clumsy”, but asserted that he had been sufficiently punished by dismissal. He said the eight-week grace period paid was sufficient compensation.

The employer also deemed it evident that the complainant’s efforts were insufficient to find another job after her dismissal, which would have lessened the harm caused by her dismissal.

However, the court “found, on the contrary, that the employer did not prove that the plaintiff had failed in her obligation to minimize the damage arising from her dismissal.”

It also indicates that the employer’s representative admitted that he took the complainant’s age into consideration when terminating her employment.

“It must be remembered that the employer tried on several occasions to encourage the plaintiff to retire and that her actual retirement was only a pretext to get rid of her,” the administrative judge wrote in her decision.

The employer wanted to get rid of her under the guise of retirement and administrative reorganization. He did it in an arrogant and ungrateful manner,” the court ruled.