A former Rubis Energy Jamaica driver is fighting to be reinstated after claiming that he was forced to sign a resignation letter following allegations that he was involved in the theft of gas from company trucks.
Aduke Walker, 48, who has worked with Rubis since 2023 and has received multiple awards, including two ‘Driver of the Year ’ awards, is insisting that he did not voluntarily resign on June 16 but was pressured into doing so.
Asked why he complied and resigned if he was innocent, Walker said, “That’s the question everybody is asking.”
However, he insisted that he felt intimidated and was bombarded with information, leaving him unable to think clearly.
Walker explained that he was called back to work while on his way home and instructed to meet with the company’s human resources manager, chief executive officer, and operations manager.
He said he was unaware of the reason for the meeting and initially believed that he was being called back to carry out a special assignment.
“Normally when I do get a call, it is to either do some special operation or something,” Walker said. “I never knew they were calling me for that.”
Walker said that instead, he was questioned about his visit to a particular garage, where he claims he had gone to source a part for a truck.
He said the executives, who maintained that he was not authorised to visit the location, also questioned him about other drivers who had allegedly gone to the garage and stolen gas from trucks.
“They were, basically, accusing me of stealing gas because they were accusing the other drivers of going there and stealing, but I told them I do not know anything about that,” Walker said.
He said the executives also told him they had footage of drivers taking fuel from trucks, prompting him to question what the footage had to do with him.
Threatened to call police
Walker said the executives were not satisfied with his responses and threatened to call the police unless he resigned.
He claimed he was then presented with a resignation letter that had already been prepared for him to sign.
“The funny thing about it was, it wasn’t my name that was even on the resignation,” he said. “It was another driver, and I pointed out to them that. They corrected it and forced me to sign it.”
Walker said although the company is insisting that he was unauthorised to visit the location, sourcing parts was not unusual when the company’s regular garage was unable to obtain them as drivers would normally be asked to assist.
Walker said he has since written to the company, asking that it withdraw the resignation letter, but Rubis has refused, insisting that he resigned voluntarily.
“That was not intentional. It wasn’t an intentional resignation. They had that already written and prepared for them to edit and for me to sign,” Walker said.
He also alleged that four days after he resigned, the operations manager called and told him that the information he had provided was insufficient and that he could get his job back if he contacted some of the other drivers and provided information.
The matter was subsequently taken to Vincent Morrison, president of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Supervisory Employees (UCASE), who is seeking Walker’s reinstatement.
He said the company acted contrary to the labour laws.
According to him, the union requested evidence of any breach committed by Walker but has not received evidence that could justify his termination.
“If a worker is guilty, then we’ll tell the worker he is guilty,” Morrison said. “However, if you can’t tell me what the worker did, if you can’t show me evidence, then I’ll have to keep on pressing for the reinstatement of the worker.”
Morrison said the company has since provided a bundle of documents, including a letter informing Walker that he would be called to a disciplinary hearing and asked to provide a statement.
He questioned why Walker was called into a meeting to provide information if the company had already planned to initiate disciplinary proceedings.
The Gleaner was shown a copy of a letter dated June 16, which requested that Walker provide a report on his June 3 deviation no later than June 18. The letter said the matter would be investigated and that he would be notified of the outcome, which, possibly, could include his attendance at a disciplinary hearing.
“The worker didn’t write the resignation letter,” Morrison said. “This was prepared.”
He said several meetings had been held, including one at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, but the matter remained unresolved. The union has since written another letter requesting a meeting by today and is awaiting a response.
Morrison said Rubis maintained that Walker had resigned voluntarily and denied that he had been pressured with the threat of police involvement.
Currently, he said the situation is causing unease among the other petroleum truck drivers.
“The workers feel that what happened to this worker could very well happen to them also,” Morrison said.
Morrison warned that the dispute could lead to disruption in the petroleum industry if it was not resolved urgently.
Morrison also said his organisation is working with three other workers from the company, two of whom are contract workers, who are alleging unfair dismissal.
Walker, in the meantime, said he has been relying on his savings while searching for another job and is struggling to meet household expenses, including back-to-school costs for his two children who are in high school and college.
“If I don’t get anything to do, I will be completely out,” Walker said.
Walker maintained that he was not involved in the alleged theft and wants the resignation withdrawn so he can return to work.
Rubis Managing Director Donnovan Dobson, when contacted, declined to comment, saying the matter is being addressed through the Ministry of Labour and the trade union.
Meanwhile, Morrison said Jamaican law does not specifically address cases in which workers are pressured to resign despite growing complaints about the practice, which he described as constructive dismissal.
Morrison said his organisation receives at least two or three such complaints each month and argued that the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act should be amended to address the issue.
He described Walker’s case as particularly serious, saying the worker was called back to a meeting with the company’s three most senior executives while on his way home.
tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com
