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Hon. Justice (Prof.) Elizabeth Oji of the Lagos Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has declared the employment contract termination of one Abimbola trading under Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures from the service of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as wrongful.
The Court faulted the action of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in its relationship determination with Abimbola and the wrongful manner her contract was terminated in flagrant disregard of the renewal of contract.
The Court ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to immediately pay Abimbola the accrued and unpaid salaries from January 2020 to June 2020, a period of six months, representing the unexpired period of the contract in the sum of One Million Eight Hundred and Thirty Thousand Naira; N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) as general damages for wrongful employment termination and the sum of N500k cost of action within 30 days.
From facts, the claimant- Abimbola had submitted that she entered into an employment service contract agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for cleaning, gardening and waste disposal of the NNPC office and environment.
Abimbola averred that the purported letter of termination of her employment was done in bad faith and also not in accordance with the terms and conditions of service, and asserted that the NNPC is indebted to her in the sum of N3,660,000.00 being her unpaid and outstanding salary for twelve months from July 2019 till June 2020.
In defence, the defendant argued that the agreement between the NNPC and Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures was for "a contract for service" and not "a contract of service", hence, Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures was never at any time whatsoever an employee, staff or worker of the NNPC, and no employer/employee relationship exists between Abimbola and the NNPC and urged the court to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.
The learned counsel maintained that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was not indebted to Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures or Abimbola in anyway, and never violated any term and condition of service as it never engaged Abimbola as its employee or worker, that the NNPC was under no obligation to retain the services of Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures after the expiration of the contract.
In opposition, the learned counsel to Abimbola argued that a business name is not distinct from its owners and submitted that NNPC could not disprove the allegation that her employment was unlawfully terminated, and urged the Court to grant the reliefs sought.
In a well-considered judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Elizabeth Oji affirmed the jurisdiction of the Court and held that applying the primacy of facts there is an employment relationship between Abimbola (trading in the name of Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures that facts determine when a person is in a contract of employment or not, and not only the presentation of a contract document.
“The principle of primacy of facts in my view, is also consistent with the definition of contract of employment in section 91 of the Labour Act which recognised agreement, whether oral or written, express or implied, whereby one person agrees to employ another as a worker and that other person agrees to serve the employer as a worker.
“The implication of this definition is that it is the facts that determine when a person is in a contract of employment or not, and not only the presentation of a contract document. Having had the benefit of considering the facts of this case, and applying the primacy of facts in this case, I find that there is an employment relationship between the Claimant (trading in the name of Bukky Joy-Bright Ventures.” Justice Oji ruled.
The court stated that the termination of service issued by NNPC did not purport to terminate Abimbola's employment for falling below expectations. Rather it purports to terminate Abimbola contract on the grounds of its expiration; which is not correct, as the contract was yet to expire by June 2020.
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