An immigration officer is suing Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Terry Lister claiming unfair dismissal when the service combined with Customs earlier this year.

Pregnant Jennifer Lightbourne has filed a writ in the Supreme Court demanding redundancy pay for the 18 years she worked in Immigration, amounting to a year's salary, along with outstanding vacation time, medical benefits and payment for maternity leave.

Her lawyer, Christian Luthi, of Conyers Dill and Pearman, said he believed the Ministry's plan to merge Immigration staff with those in Customs were flawed because it did not offer workers a chance to take redundancy.

He said Immigration workers were given three options when the issue was first raised with them, and each of them were inferior to the jobs they already held. The options were:

* To merge with Customs as a trainee Customs officer, on the same pay and benefits

* Apply for an alternative job in the Civil Service

* Seek employment elsewhere and receive one month's pay in lieu of notice.

On the day Immigration merged with Customs on January 28, three workers, including Ms Lightbourne, had refused to sign new agreements and turned up at the Immigration desks for their usual duties.

When they repeatedly refused to leave the area, the three were arrested by Police. Two of the workers have since returned to work in the Customs department, but Ms Lightbourne has not. No charges have been brought against any of them.

Mr. Luthi said by the pure fact that the position in Customs was a training post, with a training period of two years and his client was subjected to continuous assessment before having to pass a proficiency exam, it was an inferior position.

He said: "This was clearly a situation of redundancy and that they materially altered the terms of her contract of employment and they did not offer her a new employment of comparable terms.

"She would have been subjected to constant review before this examination. Subject to the examination after a period of two years, if she failed that then she was told that something else in the Civil Service may have been found for her, but there was no guarantee."

Mr. Luthi said Ms Lightbourne was put under a great deal of pressure because the only certainty she had was that she would have a job for two years, and it came with a different job description.

He added: "The choices she was given were inferior to her position, and we say that she was constructively dismissed and that she is entitled to redundancy pay and damages."

Mr. Lister last night refused to comment on the issue, saying that a writ had been filed and he wished to say nothing.

However, Ms Lightbourne, from Hamilton Parish, said she believed the situation was "ludicrous" and said she should never have been arrested.

She said: "Even though there is no further action against the officers who were arrested, there has been no apology.

"We should have been given an opportunity take redundancy. What happened was wrong."

The Royal Gazette understands that the workers' union the Bermuda Public Services Association (BPSA) met regularly with the Ministry in the several months prior to the merger taking place.

The Ministry said the purpose of the merger was to have the two units working together under one department, with each officer performing the same duties, both of Immigration and Customs.

It said the functions had always been performed that way until they were separated into two departments in the early 80s - now they were being put back together again.

The move expands the capacity of the two units, as well as placing more personnel on every function, including drug interdiction, work permit rules, illegal immigrants and marriages of convenience.

It is believed that all Immigration officers who did choose to transfer were placed on the same pay scales, even receiving a pay increase.

And the Ministry has previously said it had done all it could to work with the Immigration staff and to encourage them to sign. It said their salaries had been protected and that they were given an opportunity for enhancement because Customs had one more pay grade.

General Secretary of the BPSA Ed Ball Junior said he could not comment on Ms Lightbourne's case as the union was not legally representing her.

But he said the whole issue of the restructuring and the impact on workers was put through lawyers before any agreements were reached with the Ministry.

He said: "Any employer has a legal right to restructure how the company operates and how the workers do their functions. It has been proved in the House of Lords and the Privy Council many times before.

"The question is, when is a job made redundant and when is a job not made redundant?