Hon. Justice A. N. Ubaka of the Lagos Judicial Division has declared the employment termination of one Mr Aderiye as wrongful and ordered Reddington Multi-Specialist Hospital Ltd to pay one Mr. Aderiye N4.2m redundancy pay, salary in lieu, and unused leave; N5.4m remittance outstanding pension contributions with statutory interest; N9m general damages; and N500,000 as cost within 30 days.
The Court held that an employer cannot reshape an existing contract, vary the character of employment, or withdraw statutory benefits without the worker’s clear, voluntary agreement; and that an employee’s rights cannot be displaced merely by administrative decisions.
From the facts, the Claimant, Mr. Aderiye had stated that he worked with Reddington Hospital for several years when the hospital changed his status to contract staff without any discussion or agreement. Mr. Aderiye maintained that he continued performing the same duties under the same supervision, yet the change stripped him of pension, leave benefits, and other entitlements, prompting his claim before the Court.
In defence, the Defendant, Reddington Hospital, maintained that Aderiye had been placed on a contractor arrangement due to internal restructuring and that he received emoluments under that arrangement. They argued that the variation was within management’s discretion and that he accepted the position by continuing to work.
The Reddington Hospital, therefore, urged the Honourable Court to hold that there is no need for a formal declaration of redundancy, and if there is such a requirement, the documentary and oral evidence proffered by the evidence shows clearly that there was a declaration of redundancy before the Hospital had consultations with Mr Aderiye, and finally informed him of being made redundant.
In Opposition, Mr. Aderiye’s Counsel, Folabi Kuti SAN asserts that his client’s employment was selectively terminated, that no time was redundancy declared by the Hospital and even in the assumption that the same was declared, Mr Aderiye was the only staff affected by the declaration, thereby making his termination selective and discriminatory.
In a well-considered Judgement, Justice Ubaka held that Reddington Hospital failed to comply with the provisions relating to redundancy as contained in the employee handbook provides that before a staff is declared redundant, there shall be consultation between management and the staff concerned and then the principle of last in first out (LIFO) shall apply and if in the management’s opinion the junior officer in the line of merit and ability is greater than a staff with longer service then the principle of (LILO) will be applied.
The Court declared that the reason given by the Hospital is not valid to justify the termination of Mr Aderiye’s employment on the ground of redundancy did not apply international best practices, and declared Mr Aderiye’s entitlement to pension from 2018 to 2021 by virtue of the Pension Reform Act.
On the issue of damages, Justice Ubaka reasoned that there is no doubt that Mr Aderiye has been injured by the method of termination of his employment which is selective and amounts to discrimination, the financial hardship caused by refusal of the defendant to pay claimant redundancy benefit when due, and refusal to remit Mr Aderiye’s pension benefits for three years, these caused untold hardship on the claimant, awarded the sum of N9, 000,000, (Nine Million Naira) being the equivalent of 9 months’ salary.
The Court held that Aderiye was subjected to an arrangement that did not comply with labour standards and resulted in unjust deprivation of accrued rights.