MONROVIA – At long last, the Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court of Liberia Kennedy Peabody has ruled in favor of a motion for dismissal filed by the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Labor, preventing the Civil Service Association of Liberia (CSAL) to form a part of the Liberia Labor Congress (LLC).
It can be recalled that the CSAL, which is the umbrella organization of all civil servants in Liberia, for the second time filed a lawsuit against the government, through the Ministry of Labor and the Liberia Labor Congress (LLC) for their failure to permit civil servants to form part of the umbrella organization of all the labor organizations in the private sector.
The matter was first filed before the court, but the former Judge of the Civil Law Court, Scheaplor R. Dunbar ruled denying the application of the petitioner (CSAL) to be a member organization of the Liberia Labor Congress.
But the CSAL, headed by its President Mulbah Johnson, felt dissatisfied with the ruling, and filed a bill of exception, bringing the matter before the Supreme Court of Liberia. The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of justice in the country.
The Petitioner, the then appellant, discontinued the matter and as a result, the Supreme Court affirmed and confirmed the final judgment from the Civil Law court.
However, the CSAL filed 25-count petition substantially praying the Civil Law court to declare whether or not it had any color of right to participate in the activities of the Liberia Labor Congress as a member, or to be sworn in, and to steer the affairs of the LLC for an elected tenure consistent with the constitution of the LLC, and also declare whether the Civil Service Association is free to associate with the Liberia Labor Congress.
As a result of the motion filed by the CSAL, the Second Respondent (Ministry of Labor), resisted the claims and filed a 15-count return.
In the returns, the ministry maintained that the CSAL has no right under the Liberian Labor law, to associate with the LLC.
The ministry further averred that the law provides that only private workers of private companies are entitled to membership in the Liberia Labor Congress (LLC).
Simultaneously, the government, through the ministry, also filed along with its returns, a four-count motion to dismiss the petition. But the petitioners (CSAL) filed a written resistance to the motion to dismiss the case.
To establish whether or not the Supreme Court has decided on the matter, Judge Peabody, in his ruling, recalled that on the 27th of February 2020, the CSAL filed an eight-count petition requesting the court to declare its right to join and be a full member of the LLC.
He added that the then Judge Dunbar ruled denying the motion, and that the February 7, 2020 elections held by the Election Committee of the LLC was null and void, and said Committee also deliberately violated the constitution of the LLC.
The ruling maintained that the court also ordered the Election Committee dissolved and replaced by a neutral body to be constituted by the Ministry of Labor to conduct the elections and submit a report to the court as to the manner and conduct of the elections.
Judge Peabody further ruled that it was against this previous ruling that the CSAL herein accepted and took its plight to the Supreme Court.
When the matter was called for argument before the High Court, the ruling emphasized that it was established that the parties have already signed a voluntary discontinuance and the same approved by a Justice at the court, as required by law.
The ruling maintained that the discontinuance served as a final ruling of the Honorable Supreme Court and the case was dismissed.
On the second issue whether or not the Civil Service Association of Liberia may be a member organization of the Liberia Labor Congress, Judge Peabody ruled that the laws extant in this jurisdiction provide that “employees of public corporations are not government employees as are employees of government ministries or agencies, and as such, employees of public corporations are governed by the Labor laws of Liberia rather than the Civil Service Act.”
Judge Peabody furthered that the Decent Work Act of 2015 provides that except where expressly provided, this Act shall not apply to work falling within the scope of the Civil Service Agency Act as in Chapter 66 of the Executive Law or such other law as may be enacted in its place.
“The Court holds that the above provisions of the laws justify the stance of the Movant/Respondent that the Civil Service Association of Liberia cannot be a member organization of the Liberia Labor Congress,” the ruling stated.
It added: “Given the myriad of opinions of the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia statutes and other laws, this Court maintains as it did in its first ruling in this same very case that Petitioner’s petition is deniable for want of any provision in the law that allows the Civil Service Association to join and be a member of the Liberia Labor Congress. Accordingly, the Court says that this matter having been heard and a determination made coupled with the formal withdrawal of the matter from the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia; it would be contemptuous on the part of the Court to countenance this matter and review the ruling from the Honorable Supreme Court of Liberia. For doing so, would render said ruling unenforceable.”
Judge Peabody, however, granted the motion to dismiss the case filed by the government, through the Ministry of Labor, and ruled that similar case should never resurfaced at the Court with the same parties.
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