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The Presiding Judge, Yenagoa Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Bashar Alkali has nullified the purported disengagement of Mr. Tom Friday, Mr. Dickson Ebi, and 774 others from the service of the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State; ordered immediate reinstatement to their respective offices with payment of salaries and entitlements from 7th May 2018 till date.
Justice Alkali held that the mandatory requirements of the procedure for the disengagement of Mr. Tom Friday, and 775 others as prescribed by the conditions of service were not complied with; declared that their services with the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Amassoma, still subsist.
From facts, the Claimants- Mr. Tom Friday, and 775 others had submitted that they are not in breach or contravention of any of the University's conditions of service to have necessitated their disengagement as employees of the University and the letters of disengagement issued to them did not state any reason for their disengagement from service.
In defense, the defendant- The Government of Bayelsa State and Niger Delta University maintained that the disengagement of Mr. Tom Friday and 775 others was done in line with the collective bargaining with the Unions and the provisions of the Conditions of Service, and the Claimants were all paid three months salaries in lieu and shall be paid gratuity and pension upon documentation at the pension office.
Counsel submitted that where an employee accepts salary in lieu of notice of termination of employment, he cannot be heard to complain later that his contract of employment was not validly and properly determined, urged the court to dismiss the case in its entirety.
In opposition, the counsel to Mr. Tom Friday and 775 others; Boma Tonye Maebi Esq and 3 others argued that their clients' salaries were paid after months of being owed salary arrears for some months and when the money was paid, nothing to indicate that it was for the salaries in lieu of a notice of disengagement, and nowhere in the conditions of service that staff can be disengaged on grounds of economic realities or whatever, urged the court to grant the reliefs sought.
Delivering the judgment, the presiding Judge, Justice Bashar Alkali held that no evidence before the court to justify that the defendants negotiated with the staff of the University as required by their conditions of service on the need for them to retire due to re-organization.
Justice Alkali continued that the three months salaries in lieu of notice purported to have been paid by the University cannot by any stretch of imagination legalize the illegal disengagement of Mr. Tom Friday and 775 others without following due process and the Claimants are right to have treated the purported three months’ salary in lieu of notice as their arrears of salary.
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