NASSAU-Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) unfairly fired a senior manager following an internal investigation into a scheme that defrauded the utility company of $1.9 million.
When BPL fired Sean Miller on September 18, 2017, he didn’t know his bosses suspected that he took part in the scheme.
Miller has testified for the prosecution at the trial of the alleged perpetrators of the fraud.
In a June 3 ruling, Justice Ian Winder found Miller’s dismissal “unjust.”
Winder declined to order Miller’s reinstatement. However, the judge said he would order “the appropriate award of damages.”
Winder will hear arguments about the amount of those damages on July 16.
The power company fired the former Manager of Fuels, Performance and Special Projects for “gross misconduct”, four months shy of his retirement.
Prior to his dismissal, BPL executives suspended Miller for a month.
During the suspension, BPL executives did not reply to Miller’s letters requesting “precise reasons” for the disciplinary action.
Winder said BPL’s investigation was “not reasonable.”
Winder said investigators failed to show Miller all of the material that they relied on. As a result, they denied him an opportunity to defend himself.
The judge said, “When he was placed on suspension, BPL ought, in the letter, at the very least spell out the parameters of the disciplinary charges.”
The judge said he believed that Miller was not involved in the scheme.
Additionally, he said BPL did not have an honest belief that Miller participated in the scheme.
BPL relied on the findings of a forensic audit by Ernst and Young. Yet, no one showed Bain the audit during the investigation.
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