D.Gisele Isaac awarded significant sum in damages by the Industrial Court

Seven years after it began, the matter between D.Gisele Isaac and the Board of Education (BoE) wrapped up in the Industrial Court today, December 8 – at least for now.

The judgment was delivered by the President of the Court, which awarded  damages of more than a quarter of a million dollars to Isaac and cost to her attorney, Justin Simon, Q.C.

The BoE, in a December 2020 hearing, had admitted liability, stating that it had no defense for her constructive dismissal in August 2014. 

The Board, represented by Dr. David Dorsett, had agreed, then, that severance and notice pay were in order, but had opposed the payment of any damages to Isaac.

Subsequent attempts to arrive at a settlement failed, and the matter reverted to the Industrial Court for judgment.

While the quantum of the judgment is now open to possible appeal, the Court has ordered that Isaac be paid  by the end of March 2022.

No representative of the Board of Education was present in court today, nor was Dorsett or any member of his law firm.

This case began with Isaac’s suspension from her position as Executive Secretary of the BoE in July 2014 and being locked out of her office one month later.  She was never recalled to the job she had held since January 2001.

The matter made its way to the Labour Commissioner and then to the Industrial Court and on the Court of Appeal, with Isaac winning at every stage.

Meanwhile, the related case in which she is suing former Education Minister Michael Browne and Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin (on behalf of the Cabinet) is yet to be heard, three years and seven months after her victory at the Privy Council.

Isaac says she has no comment to make until she has “heard from the other side.”