Labour Court | Judge dismisses claims of political persecution in Sautede’s case

Eric Sautedé

Yesterday, a judge at the Labour Court announced their verdict that the reason Eric Sautedé, a former senior lecturer of the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), was unable to secure a job after being dismissed from the institution was not necessarily due to being labelled a “trouble maker.”
The judge said that the dubbing of Sautede as a “political activist” and “trouble maker” by the establishment represented purely subjective opinions and was not proven by “objective evidence.”
He added that Sautede failed to find a job “possibly because of a lack of vacancies for similar jobs at the time in Macau.”
Sautede claimed that, after leaving the USJ, he applied successfully for jobs at two local universities, but was ultimately rejected by both institutions.
The French political scientist was responsible for the Asian Politics programme at the Catholic university. His dismissal occurred in June 2014.
The decision was delivered by the judge at the Labour Court yesterday and was based on a hearing held on November 18.
The judge also stated that the fact that Sautede was one of the “contributing editors” at the Macau Daily Times did not necessarily lead to his dismissal being widely circulated on media platforms as the job nature of a “contributing editor” is mostly about “writing articles or monitoring projects,” but not about “editing.”
It is alleged that Sautede’s dismissal from the USJ occurred due to his expression of his political values, which was against the university’s self-claimed principles of not becoming involved in debates regarding politics.
Through judicial procedures, Sautede hopes to claim MOP1.3 million in compensation from the USJ for unfairly dismissing him — MOP800,000 of which will be for material damages, and the remainder for damage to his reputation.
The university said that the decision not to renew Sautede’s contract was an internal decision, and that there were several other reasons for his firing.
In an earlier court hearing, Peter Stilwell, the former rector of the USJ, noted that Sautede was dismissed not due to his “professional performance,” but due to his political remarks not aligning with USJ’s principles.
Sautede’s dismissal has ignited many discussions in Macau as some claimed that Sautede’s firing contravenes the freedom of speech granted to Macau citizens, as stipulated in the Macau Basic Law.