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Hon. Justice Isaac Essien of the Lagos Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has dismissed the entitlement claim filed by one former staff of Union Bank of Nigeria, Mr Chukwuma, against the bank for failure to discharge the evidential burden of proof as required by law.
The Court held that Chukwuma's entitlement was correctly calculated, taking into account his 25 years of service, and that he can no longer claim any additional payment in respect of pension and gratuity.
From facts, the claimant, Chukwuma, had submitted that the Union Bank of Nigeria employed him in October 1980 as a management trainee and rose to become a senior manager. Chukwuma states that in November 2005, he took up appointment as a commissioner and was granted a 2-year leave of absence.
Furthermore, in 2007 Chukwuma averred that he was re-appointed commissioner and was further granted leave of absence which was to expire in November 2009, that on the 16th November 2009 he resigned his appointment with the bank, that the Bank relied on the wrong computation of his gratuity having completed 25 years in the employment of the Bank on 9th October 2005 but was denied long service award.
In defence, the defendant- Union Bank of Nigeria contends that the items which Chukwuma used in calculating his terminal emolument are not correct and posited that Chukwuma's resignation constructively took effect from the time he commenced his leave of absence without pay.
The Union Bank contends that Chukwuma had since been paid his entitlements and argued that the action of Chukwuma as presently constituted is statute-barred for violating the Limitation Laws of Logos State, which provides that all actions founded on simple contracts must be commenced within 6 years after the cause of action arose.
In opposition, the learned counsel to Chukwuma argued that the contract of employment between his client and the Bank is not a simple contract and therefore not affected by the Limitation laws of Lagos State.
Counsel averred that the limitation law does not appear to impose a restriction on or place a bar on actions brought to enforce the constitutional right to terminal benefits mandatorily guaranteed by section 173(1) – (3) of the 1999 Constitution, and urged the Court to grant the reliefs sought.
Delivering judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Isaac Essien held that it is inconceivable and cannot be imagined that Section 8(1)(a) of the Limitation Laws of Lagos and indeed any other limitation law of any state in Nigeria can be said to apply to contract of employment in view of the complexities both in employment contract and the various regulation that apply to a contract of employment.
The Court reiterated that no employment contract can be classified as a simple contract under any limitation of action law, and held that an employment contract in Nigeria cannot be classified as a simple contract.
Justice Essien discountenanced Union Bank of Nigeria's objection and held that the Limitation law of Lagos State does not apply to the contract of employment between Chukwuma and the bank.
On whether the Chukwuma period of leave of absence can be included as part of his period of service with the Union Bank of Nigeria to be entitled to the shortfall in the computation of his gratuity and pension upon resignation as claimed, the Court held that the Chukwuma cannot claim to be entitled to have his years of service extended to cover the period of leave of absence.
The Court stressed that the only instance where the period of leave of absence can be considered in computing the service years of an employee is where the leave of absence was with pay.
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