Court Orders Firm To Pay Adedayo Victor 500,000 For Unlawful Employment Termination Within 30 Days

Hon. Justice Sanusi Kado of the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja has ordered GIG Nigeria Ltd to pay one Adedayo Victor the sum of N500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) only as damages for unjust and unlawful termination of his employment and the sum of N50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira) being salary in lieu of notice of termination within 30 days.

The Court held that the verbal termination of Adedayo’s employment was wrongful in law, that the law requires parties to abide by their agreement and terms and conditions service as they are the bedrock of employment dispute.

From fact, the Claimant- Adedayo Victor had submitted that upon resumption of duty on 26/7/2017, that he was instructed verbally by the branch manager to go back home, that he was neither issued a notice of termination of employment nor paid salary in lieu of notice as required by his contract of employment and all frantic efforts made to ensure the reversal of that decision proved abortive, urged the court to grant the reliefs sought.

In response, the defendant- GIG Motors insisted that Adedayo’s was dismissed due to his abscondment from duty and failure to respond to queries, that the dismissal notice was sent via email, urged the court to dismiss the case in its entirety.

Delivering the judgment, the presiding Judge, Justice Sanusi Kado held that the purported query issued to Adedayo was a two-page document but only page one was tendered by the firm leaving the second page and no explanation was offered on what happened to it or why it was not tendered in evidence, a situation that made the purported query an incomplete document and of no evidential value.

“The evidence of DW1 on the dismissal of the claimant was clumsy and in conflict. A careful perusal of exhibit CWE will clearly show that it was not a letter of dismissal of the claimant from service.” Justice Kado ruled.