Wrongful Dismissal: Court Adjourns Ex-Guinness Officials’ Suit till December 6

The alleged case of wrongful dismissal brought against  Guinness Nigeria Plc by its former employee, Ntima Chika Anya, before Justice K. D. Damulak of the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Akure, Ekiti State, was yesterday adjourned till December 6, 2022.

Anya sued the firm over what he termed wrongful termination of his appointment as a Territory Manager (llorin/Offa Territory, Ilorin Sales Area), demanding N100million as damages for the alleged unlawful sacking.

The defendants in the suit are: Guinness Nigeria Plc and Moshood Adejoro, who was his former Line Manager (an employee with the firm till date).

Anya, represented by Durodoluwa Oyeyiola of the Legal Aid Council, is praying the court to hold that his sacking on October 30, 2020, didn’t follow due process; his restriction from proper medical attention/denial of opportunity to go on annual leave even after presentation of medical report from the hospital which indicated that his blood pressure was constantly on the rise and thus required prompt medical attention; imposition of about-to-expire products(Dubic Malt Pet) on the employee to sell (knowing the implications); infringement on the employee’s fundamental human right; disabling his device, and removing his name from the database two weeks before the end of his appointment among others.

He also claimed that there was no Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) initiated by the firm as there was no sign-off document as in August 2020 which the second defendant claimed was to be re-visited, and also the basis for the termination of his appointment.

The case was supposed to be heard on July 14, 2022, but Justice K. D. Damulak said  there was no proof that the other party has received the motion to relist the case, and fixed November 1, 2022 for relisting of the matter.

However, the prayer of Anya that the matter should be reenlisted was granted by Damulak, but the absence of the defence counsel stalled the hearing of the case.

Justice Damulak subsequently adjourned the matter till December 6, 2022, for hearing.