Island Aviation worker dismissed after COVID-era fraud probe wins case, compensation

The Employment Tribunal has ordered Island Aviation Services Ltd (IASL) to reinstate a long-serving employee who was dismissed over allegations of embezzling company funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, ruling that the termination was carried out without procedural fairness or substantive justification.

The case concerns a senior accounts coordinator who joined Island Aviation in 1993. He was suspended without pay in November 2020 pending an internal investigation and was formally dismissed in 2024.

According to the Tribunal report, Island Aviation’s internal audit accused the employee of neglecting and misusing funds collected from the company’s business sales. He was also alleged to have coordinated payments to Island Aviation in collaboration with a third‑party sales agent. The audit claimed he had failed to account for more than MVR 300,000 and USD 3,000, and the company sought to recover MVR 382,331 from him.

After his dismissal, the employee filed a case with the Tribunal. In a ruling issued in the first week of March, the Tribunal found that Island Aviation had not established due process or demonstrated substantive grounds for termination. It declared the dismissal unlawful and ordered the company to reinstate the employee within one month.

The Tribunal also ruled that the amount Island Aviation sought to recover from the employee was not owed. In addition, the company was ordered to pay him one year’s salary as compensation.