Nigerian Court docket approves N629 million fee to NNPC workers wrongfully dismissed in 2018
The Nationwide Industrial Court docket has ordered the fee of N629 million to a workers member of the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Company (NNPC) for wrongful dismissal by administration in 2018.
The Presiding Choose of the Port Harcourt Judicial Division, Justice Faustina Kola-Olalere, held that the dismissal of the complainant (Dr Williams)from NNPC was wrongful because it didn’t comply with related labor legal guidelines.
This was disclosed on the NIC official web site on September 9, 2024.
Details of the Case
The Claimant, Dr. Williams, approached the courtroom, asserting that he labored as an Assistant Administrative Supervisor for NNPC till his abrupt and malicious dismissal.
He urged the courtroom to grant N25,000,000,000.00 in damages for breach of contract and illegal dismissal.
The claimant’s lawyer, F.Okay. Amachree Esq., argued that, after figuring out the perpetrator of fraudulent actions throughout the firm, NNPC “took extra steps towards Dr. Williams, who had served for over 30 years with none queries or warnings and had by no means breached the Company Coverage & Procedures Pointers, ignoring the advice of the Advert Hoc Committee and dismissing him abruptly.”
The counsel contended that, in keeping with employment regulation, NNPC didn’t exhaust or discover all technique of honest listening to as outlined within the Company Coverage & Process Information earlier than dismissing his consumer.
In opposition, NNPC’s authorized group argued that Williams’s dismissal was lawful as a consequence of his gross negligence and dereliction of obligation, which prompted vital loss to the corporate.
The counsel for NNPC added that Dr. Williams’s dismissal was in step with the NNPC Company Coverage and Process Information (CPPG), which grants NNPC the authority to dismiss or terminate his appointment for negligence, as indicated in a letter dated February 15, 2018.
What the Court docket Stated
In passing the decision, Presiding Choose Kola-Olalere noticed that NNPC didn’t show its case of legal or gross negligence towards the previous workers member past affordable doubt.
The courtroom held that the primary suspension letter issued to the claimant by NNPC didn’t specify fee of wage, indicating that the suspension was with out pay, opposite to related legal guidelines.
Moreover, the courtroom famous that NNPC’s Company Coverage and Process Information (CPPG) offers for termination of an worker’s appointment however doesn’t embody dismissal as a way of disengagement.
The courtroom dominated that, primarily based on these findings, the claimant was entitled to his full wage during his first suspension from January 23, 2015, to Could 9, 2016 (totaling one 12 months, three months, and sixteen days) and half of his month-to-month wage for the interval of his second suspension from Could 10, 2016, to February 15, 2018, when he was wrongfully dismissed.
“The Claimant has rendered a number of years of meritorious service, together with his employment efficient from August 23, 1991 (see Exhibit C.1 on web page 37 of the file) to February 15, 2018, when he was dismissed (see Exhibit C.35). The Claimant obtained a number of promotions and written commendations from the Defendant, as evident in Exhibit C.3. He was a top-ranking worker, and for him to be dismissed with out justifiable trigger is outrageous and reprehensible. The Defendant was reckless in dismissing the Claimant baselessly from its employment.
“For the reason that wrongful dismissal of the Claimant is now deemed ‘Wrongful Termination’ on this judgment, I maintain that the Claimant is entitled to all his terminal advantages as agreed upon in his contract of employment, much less regardless of the Defendant has already paid him as terminal advantages, which the Claimant argues is incomplete,” the decide held.
The courtroom subsequently ordered NNPC to pay the claimant N24.6 million in unpaid salaries for the suspension interval, N600 million in exemplary damages for the wrongful termination of his employment, and N5 million in authorized prices, totaling N629 million.
Justice Kola-Olalere declared that NNPC’s choice to dismiss Dr. Williams, moderately than terminate his employment as beneficial by the Advert-Hoc Committee, was wrongful because it contravened the phrases and circumstances of the claimant’s employment as acknowledged within the NNPC Company Coverage and Process Information (CPPG).
The Nationwide Industrial Court docket of Nigeria is a judicial establishment established in 1976 to adjudicate commerce, labor, and employment disputes.
