States to fight to limit sacked surgeon's compensation

Wednesday 06 February 2019

The States has said it plans to fight to limit the amount of compensation a sacked surgeon will be able to claim after he won a court case against them today.

The Royal Court this morning ruled that Jersey-born ophthalmologist Dr Amar Alwitry, had been fired before starting a new job on the island without cause or any other "substantial reason", entitling him to a significant and potentially "uncapped" compensation for loss of employment.

But the States Employment Board (SEB) have now responded to the 100-page judgment, which concluded that Dr Alwitry had been treated "most unfairly", saying that they plan to launch an appeal against Dr Alwitry's ability to claim "uncapped damages".

Pictured: The Royal Court Commissioner's full judgment, which ran to around 100 pages.

In a statement sent to Express, the SEB said they "noted" the Royal Court’s decision, pointing out several paragraphs in the lengthy judgement where the Royal Court appeared to criticise Dr Alwitry.

In one, it described the most serious charge against Dr Alwitry as being that he involved more junior members of the General Hospital "in a way which undermined the hospital management".

They said they could see this conduct "might well justify disciplinary action", but continued by saying they were not persuaded that, objectively, it was "of sufficient gravity" to warrant a dismissal, even though it had been "difficult and at times exasperating to the hospital management".

Pictured: The SEB plans to fight how much damages Dr Amar Alwitry will be able to claim as a result of the judgment.

Dr Alwitry had argued in Court that he'd been dismissed for raising concerns about patient safety. In its statement, the appeal described this issue as "entirely hypothetical".

It read: "The Court said it was inappropriate for Mr Alwitry to use patient safety concerns to try to negotiate a timetable that would see him return home to his family at weekends. The court also made it clear that this was not a case of whistleblowing, or of a contract being terminated because Mr Alwitry was a whistleblower."

In its final remarks, the SEB added that the Court had accepted evidence that the hospital management’s decision to withdraw the employment contract had been taken because of "genuine concerns about Mr Alwitry’s conduct", and that the management were "genuinely motivated by the long-term interests of the General Hospital".

Concluding, the SEB said it will be lodging an appeal against the decision that Dr Alwitry is entitled to uncapped damages.