"Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied": Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle Flags 12-Year Wait for an Industrial Court Judgment and Demands Adequate Resources to Clear the Backlog as House Sets Six-Year Limit on Claims

Leader of the Opposition Hon. Jamale Pringle used the debate on the Limitation (Amendment) Bill 2026 — which sets a six-year deadline for bringing claims before the Industrial Court — to sound the alarm over the court itself, warning the House during the afternoon session of the September 28 sitting that "waiting 12 years... for a judgment, cannot be justice to any of the parties." The United Progressive Party (UPP) leader pressed the government to confront what he called "a critical issue that we must address... the efficiency of the system" — from the processes a matter must clear before it ever reaches the Industrial Court, to the backlog of cases awaiting judgment inside it.

A Six-Year Clock on Industrial Court Claims

The short Bill, moved by Attorney General Steadroy 'Cutie' Benjamin under a suspension of the Standing Orders, amends the Limitation Act 1997 to provide that "no action may be brought, or proceedings commenced, before the court after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action occurred, or the matter giving rise to the proceedings occurred."

AG Benjamin explained that while contract and tort claims are both subject to a six-year limit, matters before the Industrial Court have never carried a time bar even as the courts wrestled for years over whether an individual's unfair dismissal qualifies as a trade dispute under the Industrial Court Act, a question the Court of Appeal confronted in cases such as Universal Caribbean Establishment v James Harrison.

Recalling his early days at the Bar, the Attorney General described a Rastafarian hotel front-desk worker as the "perfect worker" who was dismissed because someone in the establishment "didn't want a Rastafarian to be working at the front desk," and whose case only reached the court nearly 13 years after the event. "That was justice denied," he said. The amendment, he told the House, ends that "open-ended situation": all workplace matters — trade disputes and unfair dismissals alike — can now be brought to the Industrial Court within six years of the event, and not after.

"A Critical Issue That We Must Address... the Efficiency of the System"

Rising to make what he described as "a quick intervention" on the Bill, MP Pringle began: "Now, Mr. Speaker, we understand that a limit must be set. But while we're setting a limit, Mr. Speaker, for these matters to be brought before the court, there's a critical issue that we must address, Mr. AG, and it has to do with the efficiency of the system."

"Because I'm sure you are quite aware that before it gets to the stage of going before the industrial court, there are certain processes that it must follow, and the efficiency of the system, to ensure that these things happen, also needs to be looked at in earnest," he told the Attorney General.

Even claims that reach the court in good time, he warned, run straight into its congestion. "Even with this getting to the courts — the industrial court — within six years... we still have a challenge with the backlog of cases within the industrial court," the Opposition Leader said. "The members on the other side, the AG, must look at ensuring that the industrial court is properly resourced, to give justice."

Twelve Years Waiting on a Judgment

MP Pringle then put a number on the problem. "Even if it gets to the court within six years, waiting 12 years, after it is heard by the industrial court, for a judgment, cannot be justice to any of the parties," he told the House. "So here it is — you are in limbo for 5, 10, 15 years. And I can speak specifically to a situation that is in the industrial court, awaiting judgment, for 12 years now."

The Opposition Leader tied the stalled output to an unresolved dispute involving the court's former president. "Mr. AG, I know there was some sort of issue with the former president... There's a situation with the former president that the AG must resolve," he said. "Because, again, it is said that... the person was dismissed, they are owed money, so they're not writing any judgments. And guess what, Mr. Speaker, there are persons who would have been displaced, waiting for that judgment — not only for compensation, but also for their name to be cleared."

"If allegations are made, and for 12 years you're going through a process and cannot get a matter resolved, whatever the allegation, you cannot move forward until that allegation is cleared," MP Pringle said. "We have to address this situation as it relates to efficiency. Not only to get it into the court, but we have to ensure the judgment is given at the end of it. Because justice delayed is justice denied, and there are many persons who would have been displaced; their character would have been called into question, but they cannot get their name cleared until that matter is resolved and there's a judgment."

"Not Only Employees, but Employers Too"

The backlog, MP Pringle stressed, is punishing both sides of the employment relationship. "It's not only employees, but employers too — [they] just have their business in limbo, because they don't know whether they're going or coming with this situation before the court," he said. "And you cannot plan properly, not knowing what your finances are like, and what you have to pay out, if you do have to pay out anything."

His recommendation to the government was direct: "While we're on this limitation bill, and pushing this through today... I want us, Mr. Speaker, to look seriously at giving the industrial court the adequate resources necessary to get rid of the backlog of cases" so that "the ordinary people, as well as employers, can get justice, and see the benefit of having an industrial court in Antigua and Barbuda. Otherwise, we're... doing the people of Antigua and Barbuda a disservice."

AG: New President "Clearing All the Backlogs" — and a Message for Charlesworth Brown

In reply, Attorney General Benjamin thanked the Opposition Leader for the contribution and insisted the government has already moved on the court's output. He credited the Industrial Court's new president, Her Honour Samantha May-Francis, who he said, "is clearing all the backlogs," and pointed to the appointment of six additional judges "in addition to those that are there," along with new legal staff recruited from the military and the banking sector.

But the Attorney General laid the outstanding judgments squarely at the feet of the former president, Charlesworth Brown — whose contract, he confirmed, was not renewed — even while praising Mr. Brown as the man who "devised all the rules that apply in the industrial court" and whose decisions have been upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council. "What I can tell you is that whatever Charlie is entitled to, he will get. But he has not lifted a finger to try and get those outstanding matters resolved," AG Benjamin said, adding that Ms. May-Francis has had to retrieve the files of former members and write the overdue judgments herself.

"So, Charlie, do the right thing. Come forward and do the right thing. You'll be paid, but do your work. Your work is undone," the AG said.

To MP Pringle he offered an assurance: "We do accept your situation, my friend, the point that you made. We are going to look at the court system," he said, pledging that the trade unions and the employers' federation "can all be satisfied that there will be a speedier delivery of judgments." "Once I'm here, justice will not only be done, but justice will be seen to be done."

The Limitation (Amendment) Bill 2026 went on to pass its second and third readings and cleared the committee of the whole House without amendment, in a sitting that also saw the passage of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Firearms (Amendment) Bill 2026.