Section 99
Right to benefit unaffected by notice of dismissal in specified circumstances
(1)
No notice of dismissal given without sufficient cause by an employer to a female employee within a period of 3 months before her confinement shall have the effect of depriving her of any payment to which —
(a)
but for that notice, she would have been entitled; or
(b)
she would, on or before the date of her confinement, have become entitled to, under this Part.
(2)
If any question arises as to whether any notice of dismissal given under subsection (1) was or was not given for sufficient cause, it shall be referred to the Minister within 2 months from the date of the employee’s confinement.
(3)
Where the Minister is satisfied that the employee has been dismissed without sufficient cause, he may, notwithstanding any rule of law or agreement to the contrary —
Employment
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(a)
direct the employer to reinstate the employee in her former employment and pay the employee an amount equal to the salary that she would have earned had she not been dismissed; or
(b)
direct the employer to pay such amount of salary as compensation as the Minister may consider just and equitable having regard to all the circumstances of the case, and the employer shall comply with the direction of the Minister.
(4)
The decision of the Minister under subsection (3) is final.
(5)
Any direction of the Minister under subsection (3) shall operate as a bar to any action for damages by the employee in any court in respect of the dismissal without sufficient cause under subsection (1).
(6)
An employer who fails to comply with a direction of the
Minister under subsection (3) is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or both.
(7)
Where any amount to be paid by an employer under subsection (3) is not paid in accordance with the direction of the Minister and the employer has been convicted of an offence under subsection (6), the amount or so much thereof as remains unpaid shall be recoverable by the court as if it were a fine and the amount so recoverable shall be paid to the employee entitled to payment under the direction of the Minister.