Cargo Handling demands guarantee after garnishee order
The Cargo Handling Company Limited yesterday filed an application in the
First Hall of the Civil Court following the issue of a garnishee order
against it for Lm141,000 at the request of four of its employees.
Gemma Borg, Mary Darmanin, Rita Debono and Tanya Baldacchino had asked
the court to issue the garnishee order to secure their claims against the
Cargo Handling Company Limited.
They claimed they had been discriminated against by their employer as
they had not been allocated overtime work in the same manner as male
employees had.
Earlier this month, the court upheld the application filed by the four
employees and ordered the issue of the garnishee order.
In yesterday's application, Cargo Handling, however, asked the court to
order the women to provide an adequate guarantee for the payment of a
penalty that could be imposed on them by the court and for damages they had
caused.
The company argued that the women's request for the warrant to be issued
against them was malicious and vexatious. They had never called upon the
company to provide security for their claims and this was required by law.
As a result, the company was entitled to file judicial proceedings against
the employees for damages.
The company added that the garnishee order was aimed at damaging it,
because the employees had no real fear that the company would have
difficulties to honour any court judgment that could be delivered against
it.
Furthermore, the employees had been slow in producing their evidence in
the case filed against the company.
Cargo Handling further claimed that the warrant had been issued in an
attempt to cast the company in a bad light.
Although the employees' case against the company had been pending for
over four years, they had only requested the issue of the warrant after the
government had publicly made a call for tenders for cargo handling services.
The media had commented extensively on the garnishee order and on the
facts of the case that were still sub judice and certain sections of the
media had reported maliciously that the company was in liquidation. This was
false information and the company had filed four libel suits on this issue.
Cargo Handling said that the employees had not limited the effects of the
garnishee order against the company, adding that it was entitled to proceed
against the employees for damages.
At this stage, however, the company was limiting its request in the sense
that it was asking the court to order the employees to deposit a guarantee
against the damages they were causing. In default of such guarantee being
given, the court was requested to revoke the garnishee order.
Lawyer Aron Mifsud Bonnici signed the application. |
