By Desire Emmanuel
The National Industrial Court has ordered the Adamawa State government to pay all the entitlements of a former member of a board in the state, saying it is illegal to withhold them.
Justice James Agbadu-Fishim of the Yola Division of the court ordered the state government and its Attorney-General to pay the former member of the Adamawa State Hospital Services Management Board, Mr Wilson Simon, the sum of N3.75 million as furniture allowance, N3.75 million as severance gratuity and N500,044 as leave allowances due to him as his entitlements.
The judge also declared the withholding the entitlements due to Mr Simon as unjustifiable and contrary to established labour practices, and that Adamawa State government and its Attorney-General have proffered no justification for the non-payment of his entitlements.
According to court documents, Mr Simon submitted that he was appointed a member of the Adamawa State Hospital Services Management Board by the state government in February 2015 and served in that capacity until the expiration of his tenure, but was not paid his furniture allowance, leave allowances and severance gratuity as contained in his letter of appointment.
He added that despite formal demand through a pre-action notice served on the government and its Attorney-General, all efforts to recover his outstanding entitlements proved abortive, thereby compelling him to approach the court for redress.
He urged the court to hold that the failure of the state government to present evidence amounted to an abandonment of their defence and that the unchallenged documentary evidence tendered by him has sufficiently established his entitlement to the reliefs sought.
The Adamawa State government and its Attorney-General filed a joint statement of defence but failed to call any witness, failed to adduce evidence, and repeatedly failed to appear in court to open their defence.
Giving his judgment, Justice Agbadu-Fishim, held that Mr Simon proved his case by credible and uncontroverted documentary evidence and that the Adamawa State government and its Attorney-General failed to justify the non-payment of his entitlements.
The judge held that the letter of appointment issued to Mr Simon clearly stipulated his entitlements, including furniture allowance, leave allowance, and severance gratuity, and that the state government and its Attorney-General cannot withhold payments due under the contract of employment.
The judge stressed that the failure of the government and its Attorney-General to defend the action or challenge Simon’s evidence left the court with no option but to rely on the uncontroverted evidence presented by him.
He therefore awarded N500,000 as general damages, N500,000 as cost of action, and ordered that the total judgment sum shall attract 10 per cent annual interest until full liquidation.
