HSBC Bank Malta to pay €603,000 in Breach of Employee Rights

A court has ordered HSBC Bank Malta to pay €603,000 in damages to the heirs of a former employee after it found that the disciplinary action taken against the employee back in 2004 breached employees’ rights.

Private clients’ manager Ms. Johanna Abela had been indefinitely suspended from the bank on March 1st 2004 and a letter of charge accusing her of gross misconduct was issued on April 8th of that same year, she was found guilty by an internal disciplinary board and was downgraded as a result. Ms. Abela pleaded that her case was unjust and one sided. Ms. Abela died in 2013 and her heirs took over the case. Ms. 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. The sum ordered to be paid in compensation covered the salary and commission, expenses and interest which Ms. Abela would have earned before falling ill.