The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Oyo State has ordered Dee-Pee Global Packaging, a defunct company, to pay N1,260,000 in owed salaries to Rasheed Jimoh, a staff member whom they suspended indefinitely on October 1, 2020.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Dele Peters, the presiding judge, held that a suspension from duty does not equate to termination of an employment contract, but prevention of the staff from performing his assigned duties for a period of time.
“Suspension, even where it is stated to be indefinite, is neither demotion from rank nor termination of contract of employment,” the judge said.
Although the company’s lawyers argued the company was no longer in operation, Peters said the company owed Jimoh salaries for the period between when the company terminated his contract on October 30, 2020, and January 2025.
The court also granted a N200,000 judgment cost against the defendant and ordered that the company make the payments within 30 days of the court’s ruling.
Jimoh sued Dee-Pee Global Packaging on June 8, 2022. According to Jimoh’s court filing, Dee-Pee hired him as a Trainee Operator in its factory on April 13, 2010, and he served there for a decade until the night of October 30, 2020, when the factory owner visited the site to find a machine was not working. This, he said, was the reason the company suspended him.
In its defence, the company claimed they suspended Jimoh for misconduct, which caused them economic losses and led to their shutdown.
Omoniyi Odeyemi, Jimoh’s lawyer, argued that since his client did not receive a termination letter, he was still in the company’s employ.
Peters agreed and said there was nothing in the employment contract that allowed the company to place the staff on indefinite suspension and then terminate his employment.
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