Media
- Home
- Details
The Presiding Judge, Enugu Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Oluwakayode Arowosegbe, has nullified the purported termination of Dr. Okoro’s employment from Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State vide the letter dated 16th December, 2019.
The Court ordered Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State to immediately reinstate Dr. Okoro and to pay Dr. Okoro all his benefits, salaries and entitlement from the date of the stoppage of his salaries in March 2019 till judgment is given at the rate of N375,089.23 per month (Three Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousand and Eighty-Nine Naira, Twenty-Three Kobo).
Justice Arowosegbe also awarded the sum of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) against the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and 2 others as general damages for the psychological injuries and physical deprivations suffered by Dr. Okoro in the stoppage of his unpaid earned salaries, and the sum of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira) Cost of action.
From facts, the claimant- Dr. Okoro had submitted that his salary was stopped, and his appointment was subsequently terminated without notifying him of any misconduct and affording him the opportunity to meet it, and that Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and 2 others failed to follow the proper procedures in all the actions taken.
Dr. Okoro pleaded that all efforts to inquire why his salary was not paid yielded no result, and further pleaded that the committee that investigated his alleged misconduct was illegally set up in virtue of the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of Boards, etc] Act.
In defence, the defendants- Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and 2 others maintained that Dr. Okoro’s appointment was terminated because he absconded from duty and that the claimant was afforded a fair hearing in accordance with the law.
The Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and 2 others counterpleaded that the SSDC was duly constituted and sat to hear the case, and Dr. Okoro employment was duly terminated based on the SSDC’s recommendation to the APDC.
In opposition, Dr Okoro replied that he never absconded from duty and that the purported Committee before which he appeared was not a committee, as no one took minutes, and the purported minute was a forgery. He also replied that the Committee had in attendance DSS officials, which made it improperly constituted.
In a well-considered judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Oluwakayode Arowosegbe, held that there is no evidence that Dr Okoro was informed of the alleged misconduct, and therefore, there is no basis for the termination of his appointment.
Justice Arowosegbe noted that Dr Okoro’s salary was stopped in March 2019, and he was only issued a query on June 28, 2019, three months later, and Dr. Okoro was still not informed exactly of the offence he committed, which proves to the hilt that the defendants had no genuine case against Dr. Okoro.
The Court found that the allegation of abscondment and absenteeism was not proved against Dr. Okoro, and that the Stoppage of salaries without a lawful reason has been viewed in the international best practices of labour relations as a breach of constitutional provisions of human rights to life, dignity of a person and of right to property
Justice Arowosegbe reasoned that Dr. Okoro salary was whimsically stopped long before the termination without suspension or interdiction and without given reason for the stoppage despite the fact that Dr. Okoro was still in the defendants’ employment for long before the ill-fated termination.
Visit the judgment portal for full details
