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COURT’S JUDGMENT 1. On May 17, 2016 the claimant filed this complaint against the defendant; and by his amended statement of fact, the claimant is seeking for the following reliefs: a. A Declaration that the defendant’s refusal to pay the claimant his end of service benefits in line with the Policy and as practiced by the defendant in her previous retrenchment exercise of employees; particularly that of July and November 2013, amongst others; is wrongful, oppressive, unfair and contrary to the defendant’s Policy (HCP Manual Revised 2013); which envisage fair treatment and equality to all employed staff. b. A Declaration that the claimant is entitled to be paid his end of service benefits under redundancy as contained in the defendant’s Human Capital Policies and Procedures (HCP) Manual Revised 2013; to wit: the payment of monetary compensation of the sum of ?16,176,383.25K (Sixteen Million, One Hundred and Seventy-six Thousand, Three Hundred and Eighty-three Naira, Twenty-five Kobo) being the 100% of gross annual salary (less tax and bonus) of an Assistant General Manager or the sum of ?15,593,772.62K (Fifteen Million, Five Hundred and Ninety-three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy-two Naira, Sixty-two Kobo)being the 100% of gross annual salary (less tax and bonus) of an Assistant General Manager as at the time of exit from the defendant’s employment in April 2015. c. A Declaration that the defendant’s refusal to pay the claimant his end of service benefits in the sum of ?16,176,383.25K (Sixteen Million, One Hundred and Seventy-six Thousand, Three Hundred and Eighty-three Naira, Twenty-five Kobo) in line with the defendant’s Policy Manual (Handbook regulating the contract of employment between the claimant and the defendant) as at when due (exit date of April 2015) amounts to a breach of contract of employment. d. A Declaration that by virtue of the combined provisions of paragraphs 4.1.2, 5.2 – 5.4, 6.1 and 8.2 of the defendant’s Human Capital Policies and Procedures (HCP) Manual Revised 2013; the defendant owe the claimant a mandatory duty to furnish/advise the claimant with an accurate computation of his final exit entitlement (severance/end of service benefit) and outstanding indebtedness of the claimant to the defendant (Mortgage Loan Balance) within two weeks after the disengagement of the claimant from the employment services of the defendant for the purpose of balancing of accounts and netting off. e. A Declaration that the defendant failed and wilfully neglected his duty to furnish/advise the claimant with an accurate computation of his final exit entitlement (severance/end of service benefit) within two weeks after the disengagement of the claimant from the employment services of the defendant for the purpose of balancing of accounts and netting off. f. A Declaration that it was wrongful for the defendant not to have netted off the claimant’s total indebtedness to the defendant (Mortgage Loan Balance) from the total sum of ?16,176,383.25K (being the claimant’s total severance package) as at the time of exit. g. A Declaration that it is wrongful for the defendant to have continued to apply interest charges and other debit charges on the claimant’s indebted sum to the defendant (Mortgage Loan Balance) after the date of exit (April 2015) when parties ought to have settled account as at the time of exit through the defendant’s netting off policy as contained in the defendant’s Human Capital Policies and Procedures (HCP) Manual Revised 2013. h. An Order directing the defendant to pay the claimant the sum of ?16,176,383.25K (Sixteen Million, One Hundred and Seventy-six Thousand, Three Hundred and Eighty-three Naira, Twenty-five Kobo) being the 100% of the claimant’s gross annual salary (less tax and bonus) as an Assistant General Manager. PARTICULARS • Gross Annual salary------------------?18,058,130.67K • (less tax and bonus) -----------------?16,176,383.25K • 100% of same = ?16,176,383.25K i. An Order directing the defendant to pay to the claimant compensation damages (general) of the sum of ?2, 500, 000.00K (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) for breach of contract of employment and the cost of litigation of this suit. j. A post judgment interest of 25% on the judgment sum from the date of judgment until final liquidation of the judgment sum. IN THE ALTERNATIVE k. An Order compelling the defendant to apply the netting off policy of the defendant as contained in the defendant’s Human Capital Policies and Procedures (HCP) Manual Revised 2013, to wit: the deduction of the claimant total indebted sum (Mortgage loan balance) at the time of exit from the claimant’s severance package of ?16,176,383.25K. l. An Order of Perpetual Injunction Restraining the defendant or its Agent from selling or taking any steps against the property of the claimant at 1 Oke Street, off Zainab Street, Medina Estate, Gbagada, Lagos and registered as No. 56, page 56, Vol. 1989R of the Lands Registry Office, Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos State (used as collateral for the Staff Mortgage Loan Facility) upon the settlement of the claimant’s indebtedness through netting off of claimant’s indebtedness (Mortgage Loan Balance) from claimant’s severance package (?16, 176, 383.25K.) ALTERNATIVE REDUNDANCY CLAIM ONLY m. A Declaration that the defendant’s termination of the claimant’s employment on the 16th of April, 2015 for no just cause is wrongful and thus entitles the claimant to damages; OR n. A Declaration that the defendant’s termination of the claimant’s employment via forced resignation/involuntary resignation amounts to a constructive dismissal which is wrongful and thus entitles the claimant to damages; o. An Order directing the defendant to pay compensation damages to the claimant for wrongful termination of employment/constructive dismissal in the sum of either ?19,706,230.24k (Nineteen Million, Seven Hundred and Six Thousand, Two Hundred and Thirty Naira, Twenty-four Kobo) being claimant’s Gross Annual Salary/Emolument. COURT’S DECISION 2. On the whole, I hereby declare, hold and order as follows: i. I declare and hold that since the defendant did not indicate its intension to object to Documents relied on by the claimant within the stipulated period in Order 3 Rule 11 (2) & (3) of the NICN (CP) Rules, 2017 the defendant is deemed to have admitted those documents. Therefore, the defendant is precluded from raising the objection against any of these documents at this stage of the proceedings. I further declare and hold that the documents were properly admitted as exhibits by this Court. ii. I declare and hold that the documents containing the terms and conditions of the claimant’s employment with the defendant are: Documents C.2, C.3 and C.10 respectively before the Court. iii. I declare and hold that it is discriminatory and an unfair labour practice for the defendant to pay ex-gratia to some of its ex-employees whose employment were determined in the same or similar circumstance as that of the claimant without paying same to the claimant. iv. I declare and hold that the claimant was forced to resign from his employment by the defendant; therefore, this amounts to constructive dismissal. I further hold that the claimant is entitled to compensation for the abrupt and unfair determination of his employment. v. I declare and hold that the claimant’s exit from the defendant’s employment was not as a result of redundancy because Redundancy was not declared. I further hold that the claimant is not qualified to be paid gratuity by the defendant as he did not work with the Bank for a minimum of 5 years as required in his contract of employment. He only worked with the defendant for 3completed years; see paragraph 5 of his Statement of Facts at page 6 of the record, paragraph 5 of his Amended Statement of Facts and paragraph 6 of his written statement on oath at page 21 of the record. vi. I hereby order the defendant to pay the claimant six months’ gross salary as compensation for his constructive dismissal. For the purpose of calculating this entitlement, the defendant admitted in paragraph 10 of the statement of defence at page 241 of the record that the gross annual emolument of the claimant is N17,499,999.97. Thus, his six months’ compensation is calculated this way: N17,499,999.97 divided by 12months equals N1,458,333.330 and if this is multiplied by 6; it will give us the sum of N8,749,999.98 (Eight Million, Seven Hundred and Forty Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Naira; Ninety Eight Kobo) only. The defendant is hereby ordered to pay to the claimant the sum of N8,749,999.98 for his constructive dismissal. vii. With respect to the claimant’s reliefs on the mortgage loan he took from the defendant as stated in reliefs in paragraphs 76 (iv) to (vi) of his amended statement of facts at page 446 of the record; this issue was not adequately traversed by the parties. For instance, the claimant raised the issue of this loan in paragraphs 50-71 of his amended statement of fact and at paragraph 59 of the statement of fact. In paragraph 56 of his amended statement of facts, the claimant avers that his outstanding on the loan is N13,066,032.27K whereas, in paragraph 38 of the statement of defence, the defendant avers that the total indebtedness of the claimant on the loan is N15,414,210.32k; nonetheless the Bank has no counter-claim against the claimant. viii. In addition, the Mortgage Loan Agreement is Document C.9 in this case and it is at pages 104 to 106 of the record. It is only signed by the claimant and his witness, no officer/representative of the defendant signed. Therefore, the agreement has no legal value. As it is, there is no material before the Court; like adequate pleadings, evidence and written arguments on this issue to assist the Court to take proper decision on the Mortgage Loan Agreement. Consequently, all the claimant’s reliefs in respect of the Mortgage Loan in question are hereby dismissed. ix. The defendant is to pay to the claimant the sum of N200,000.00 as cost. x. The defendant is to pay the judgment sum to the claimant within 60days from today. After which the judgment sum shall attract 10% interest per annum until it is finally liquidated. x. See the judgment of the Court in the sister case with Suit No: NICN/IB/48/2016 for detailed reasoning on this judgment. Judgment is entered accordingly. Hon. Justice F.I. Kola Olalere Presiding Judge