(EDITOR’S NOTE: I am assuming that this is the same Anthon Thompson, whose outstanding photographs of PLP campaign events we have published many times in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE.)
NASSAU, Bahamas — A former Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) manager has won more than $134,000 after he was fired for allegedly sitting in his vehicle and joining in radio talk shows, The Tribune reported on Monday, October 18, in an article written by Tribune Business Editor Neil Hartnell.
Anthon Thompson, who in February 2018 demanded that former prime minister, Hubert Minnis, intervene over what he slammed as a “travesty” of a termination, was found by the Supreme Court to have been both unfairly and wrongfully dismissed by the government agency.
Justice Diane Stewart, in a September 22 ruling, awarded Mr Thompson $60,122 for wrongful dismissal — a sum equivalent to what BAIC offered when he was terminated. And, on the unfair dismissal, she gave him a “basic” $41,495 plus $32,700 in “compensatory” damages.
The latter sum was awarded on the basis that Mr Thompson’s termination deprived him of a Scotiabank mortgage that would have financed completion of the “executive three-storey duplex townhouse” he was building at the time.
The ex-BAIC manager said he had already paid $5,000 towards an appraisal report, quantity surveyor’s report, engineer’s report and life insurance for the duplex project, and injected $190,000 from his own personal funds into it.
Justice Stewart also noted that Mr Thompson was forced to enter into an interest-only arrangement with Commonwealth Bank because the BAIC termination had left him unable to meet $1,080 in monthly loan payments. She awarded him accrued interest on both the Scotiabank and Commonwealth Bank loans, which made up the majority of the “compensatory” award. See complete Tribune article at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/oct/18/ex-baic-managers-134k-win-over-radio-show-firing/?fbclid=IwAR1jjskuWmBOk21zvRPwjx3h3K35T8AN1CTp_QBfIt0JAvUDY5py_95Qlmg
