Labour Court upholds finding that Elephant Haulage did not discriminate in dismissal

The Labour Court upheld the Equality Officer’s decision that Elephant Haulage Limited did not discriminatorily dismiss Guntars Garbacevs on the race ground. The determination was signed on 16 December 2010. Garbacevs confined his appeal to discriminatory dismissal and withdrew his other complaints. He said he was dismissed while ill and raised concerns about the language of his employment terms and the fairness of the process. Elephant Haulage said he stopped attending work and did not respond to attempts to contact him, and that it offered him his job back when he made contact. The Court found Garbacevs had represented that he could understand English and found no evidence from which race discrimination could be inferred in ending his employment after the prolonged lack of contact. It said the disciplinary-process precedent he relied on did not apply because he had made himself unavailable to his employer. His discriminatory dismissal complaint failed; his less-favourable-treatment complaint was withdrawn.