Secretary loses job for not telling boss of call

A secretary who was sacked on the spot for failing to alert her boss about an important phone call was awarded €2,500 after a tribunal decreed she had been treated too harshly. On the day of her sacking in March last year, 58-year-old Veneranda Mangani took a call from an important client at Vella Falzon Building Supplies Ltd on behalf of her boss, Alexis Vella Falzon, a director. The client had called him on the mobile phone but was diverted to the office landline. The secretary took a message on her notebook but, before she had the chance to inform her boss of the phone call, the client called again, this time getting through to Mr Vella Falzon directly and asking why he had not returned the call. Mr Vella Falzon stormed out of his office, severely reprimanded Ms Mangani and told her to pack up and leave. She had been working for the company since November 2003. According to evidence by Mr Vella Falzon and some colleagues, when he first confronted her she dismissed him, slammed the phone and replied with a “so what”. The company, represented by lawyer Paul Gonzi, argued that this had not been the only incident but the proverbial final straw. The company produced an e-mail in...