A woman who underwent surgery after she was given approval by the company she was working with has been sacked by the same company four days after resuming for work.
She has therefore taken her matter to the National Industrial Court for redress, saying what was done to her was an injustice.
Justice Elizabeth Oji of the Lagos division of the court on Friday ordered the company, Bayer Nigeria, to pay the woman, Mrs Joan Oduse, N798,000 as one month’s salary in lieu of notice, N2 million as compensation for wrongful termination of employment and N500,000 as costs of the action.
The court held that Bayer Nigeria’s reorganisation was genuine and verifiable, but declared the termination of Oduse’s employment as wrongful for failure to comply with the contractual requirement for one month’s notice or payment of salary in lieu of notice.
According to available court documents, Mrs Oduse submitted that she underwent surgery and was granted leave to recover. Upon resuming for work, however, she was informed four days later that her role was no longer required. Shortly afterwards, the company advertised the position.
Mrs Oduse averred that she applied for the advertised position and was interviewed but was informed that she lacked the requisite skills and experience for the role. The position was subsequently filled by another staff member.
She challenged the termination, contending that the reorganisation was a contrived attempt to remove her and that the duties of the new position were substantially identical to those she had performed.
In its defence, Bayer Nigeria maintained that the company restructuring rendered Mrs Oduse’s position redundant and denied that her employment termination was connected to her surgery.
Bayer Nigeria further contended that the reorganisation was justifiable and verifiable, relying on the organisational report, the internal advertisement of the vacancy, the external recruitment process and the interview of eight candidates.
The company maintained that it complied with the contractual requirement for notice by providing for payment in lieu of notice in the final settlement, and that Mrs Oduse had acknowledged receiving N3.8 million after deductions.
Opposing the arguments however, Mrs Oduse’s counsel argued that the purported reorganisation was a ruse intended to remove his client, who had considerable experience and had performed responsibilities associated with the Head of Sales position in addition to her existing duties.
The counsel submitted that the termination was wrongful because Bayer Nigeria failed to comply with Clause 14 of the contract of employment, which required either party to give one month’s written notice or pay one month’s salary in lieu of notice.
Delivering judgment, Justice Oji held that Mrs Oduse had proved that the termination of her contract of service by Bayer Nigeria was wrongful for failure to comply with the requirement for one month’s notice or salary in lieu of notice.
Justice Oji also found that the reorganisation carried out by the firm was genuine and verifiable and that the allegation that the two roles were identical does not survive comparison of the job descriptions.
The judge held that the woman was entitled to the net salary of N675,078.97 paid on 31 May 2021 for work done, as the termination letter was received on 25 May 2021, while also ruling that the company failed to pay salary in lieu of notice, thereby breaching the employment contract and rendering the termination wrongful.
The judge declined to award compensation for the allegation of unfair labour practices or damage to Mrs Oduse’s brand, reputation and goodwill because those claims were not established by evidence.
