Historic 'language question' in court returns to haunt former bank employee
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The historic 'language question' in Malta's courts has returned to haunt a former HSBC employee who sued the bank's board for allegedly not being paid outstanding wages upon termination of his employment. The case was filed by the police after the bank allegeHistoric 'language question' in court returns to haunt former bank employee
The historic 'language question' in Malta's courts has returned to haunt a former HSBC employee who sued the bank's board for allegedly not being paid outstanding wages upon termination of his employment. The case was filed by the police after the bank allegedly failed to pay Dennis Francalanza, whose termination of employment was declared unfair by the Industrial Relations Tribunal in November 2015. The bank's failure was deemed to be a breach of the collective agreement. Before going into the merits of the case, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed that the summons had been filed in English. She observed that the Constitution and the Criminal Code laid down that the language of the courts was Maltese. The Judicial Proceedings (Use of English Language) Act further laid down that where one or more of the parties was English-speaking and the Maltese-speaking parties made a declaration consenting to the proceedings being conducted in the English language, or where none of the parties was a Maltese-speaking person, the court may order that the proceedings be conducted in the English language. However, no such declaration had been made, nor was the court requested to issue... Read more