By Desire Emmanuel
Justice Zaynab Mohammed Bashir of the Port Harcourt division of the National Industrial Court has declared Mr Akor Joseph’s employment termination by First Bank of Nigeria as wrongful and unfair.
The judge therefore ordered the bank to pay him the sum of N3.2 million being the balance of his salaries and allowances withheld during his suspension. It further awarded N2 million as general damages for the breach of the terms of his employment.
According to available court documents, Mr Joseph said that he was employed by First Bank in May 2005 and rose to the position of Deputy Manager before his employment was terminated in December 2018 following allegations of misconduct.
He told the court that the allegation was never substantiated and yet, he was suspended, paid about N31,000 monthly instead of half of the basic salary prescribed by the bank’s Staff Employee Handbook. He eventually had his employment terminated despite the fact that the investigation into the allegation was still ongoing.
He also told the court that the bank breached the provisions of its Staff Employee Handbook by failing to conclude investigations before terminating his employment and by withholding part of his salaries, allowances and other benefits during his suspension despite the allegation not being established.
In its defence, First Bank argued that Joseph was accorded a fair hearing through disciplinary proceedings, that his employment was lawfully terminated because his services were no longer required, and that he was not entitled to the unpaid balance of his suspended salary, having left the bank’s employment while still on suspension.
The bank further argued that the reason stated in the termination letter that the services of Joseph were no longer required was sufficient in law and that the court could not import any other reason into the letter.
Opposing the arguments, Joseph’s counsel submitted that First Bank failed to comply with its own disciplinary procedure under the Staff Employee Handbook, terminated the employment of his client before the conclusion of investigations, and failed to justify the termination in accordance with the provisions of the handbook.
The counsel further argued that the termination letter merely stated that the services of Joseph were no longer required without assigning any reason and maintained that the bank acted contrary to the provisions of its Employee Handbook by paying Joseph substantially less than half of his basic salary during his suspension.
Delivering judgment, Justice Bashir held that Mr Joseph successfully established that First Bank breached the terms of his employment by failing to comply with the disciplinary procedure contained in its Staff Employee Handbook after commencing investigations into allegations of misconduct and by paying him less than the prescribed half of his basic salary during suspension.
She found that although the bank retained the contractual right to terminate the employment, the termination was wrongful for failing to comply with its own contractual obligations and disciplinary framework.
The judge further held that having elected to terminate Joseph’s employment on the ground that his services were no longer required rather than dismissing him for misconduct, First Bank could not rely on alleged misconduct to deny him the financial entitlements accruing during his suspension.
