Former chief executive officer of T&T National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (NP) has won his lawsuit against his former employer for wrongful dismissal.
Delivering a 22-page judgement at the Hall of Justice yesterday, Appellate Judges Allan Mendonca, Prakash Moosai and Andre Des Vignes upheld Richard Callender’s appeal against the decision of a High Court Judge Carol Gobin, who dismissed his lawsuit in favour of the company in 2013.
Callender was appointed to the post in February 2006 and was dismissed in April 2011 over his role in allegedly granting a company operating two service stations in San Fernando an unauthorised credit facility despite it having a $1.6 million debt with NP.
The board had alleged that the facility was given despite the company’s strict cash on delivery policy.
Callender denied any wrongdoing as he claimed that the board had instructed him to facilitate the gas station owners as it (NP) did not want them to switch suppliers to its competito—the United Independent Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (Unipet). The station had previously complained of cash flow problems caused by an irregular supply from NP. In their judgment, the court found that Gobin had wrongfully disregarded Callender’s evidence in which he claimed that the board was fully aware of his decisions regarding the company Trebro Holdings.
Callender was claiming $1.7m in compensation which included compensation for breaching his contract as well as nine months of salary and benefits entitled to him upon dismissal. However, the court agreed with NP’s lawyers that Callender was only entitled to three months salary.
