The Labour Court allowed Seda (Skills & Enterprise Development Academy) Limited’s appeal and set aside the decision in Melissa Angarita Cardenas’s nationality discrimination complaint. The determination was dated 19 July 2023.
Ms Angarita Cardenas argued that colleagues of other nationalities were allowed to work during pandemic restrictions while she remained on lay-off. SEDA said the college was closed, later offered online courses and brought back limited staff for essential work.
The Court found about 80 per cent of staff remained on lay-off until the college reopened for face-to-face business. It said only staff needed for limited essential work returned, and that Ms Angarita Cardenas’s receptionist role was not needed while the building was closed and students were absent. The Court concluded she had not met the burden of proof required to establish facts from which discrimination could be presumed.