1 hour ago
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Senior Reporter
A Trinidad and Tobago Cadet Force (TTCF) officer has won his lawsuit over being bypassed for promotion.
Delivering a judgment late last week, High Court Judge Margaret Mohammed upheld Captain Derek Williams’ case and ordered more than $100,000 in compensation for breaches of his constitutional rights.
She also ordered that Williams be paid the additional salary benefits he would have received had he been properly promoted when he qualified for such in 2023.
Williams, who is also a registered nurse, joined the TTCF in October 2000 and received several promotions.
In May 2024, he was transferred to the Sixth Infantry Battalion and was appointed to the position of second in command.
Several months later, Williams was excluded from a group of colleagues who received retroactive promotions to the rank of Major.
Williams, through his lawyers Arden Williams and Mariah Ramrattan, filed the lawsuit as he claimed that seven colleagues, who he was ranked higher than in terms of seniority, were promoted ahead of him.
In deciding the case, Justice Mohammed noted that under the TTCF Regulations and Standing Orders, Williams would have qualified for promotion after serving as a Captain for more than seven years.
She ruled that the TTCF Commandant was wrong to have excluded Williams from the promotion exercise.
“The First Defendant (the Commandant) acted unreasonably and irrationally by taking into account irrelevant matters namely vacancies, strength of unit and merit, as based for not submitting the Claimant’s name to the Second Defendant (TTCF Committee),” Justice Mohammed said.
She found that his constitutional right to protection of the law was breached as his exclusion was arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational and legal.
“The First Defendant’s actions were also unfair as he failed to notify the Claimant of his ineligibility for promotion in writing and failed to make any recommendations for improvement or to give the Claimant the opportunity to improve,” Justice Mohammed said.
She also found that his right to equality of treatment from a public authority was breached based on his similarly circumstanced colleagues being promoted ahead of him.
In finding that he had a legitimate expectation that he would be promoted, Justice Mohammed ordered that he be paid the difference in salary benefits he would have received.
She also found that he was entitled to $50,000 in compensation for the distress and humiliation he faced from having to see colleagues promoted ahead of him despite him being their senior with an unblemished record.
She also ordered $50,000 in vindicatory damages.
“I have decided to make an award for vindicatory damages in order to register the Court’s disgust and disapproval of the conduct of the First Defendant who had an important function under the Cadet Force Act, the regulations and the 2021 Standing Orders, and failed to understand his role,” Justice Mohammed said.
Justice Mohammed also directed that Williams be retroactively promoted from August 1, 2023 and that the TTCF pay his legal costs for the successful litigation.
The TTCF and the Office of the Attorney General were represented by Ronnelle Hinds, Aryanta Williams, Fazana Ali and Abigail Bistro.
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