The Presiding Judge, Portharcourt Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Faustina Kola-Olalere FCIArb has dismissed the redundancy claim filed by one Amadi Chukwuemeka, who sued through his Lawful Attorney Harry Enoch against Martin Craighead and 2 others in its entirety for lack of proof.
However, the Court declared the action of the Baker Hughes Company by determining Amadi Chukwuemeka’s employment by redundancy, which is not provided for in the terms and conditions of employment agreed to by the parties as wrongful.
Justice Kola-Olalere held that the Voluntary Release Program Policy that Amadi is urging the Court to calculate his Redundancy Package with, is not before the Court and fatal to the case as the Court has nothing to base its decision on.
The Court held that Amadi has failed to satisfy the Court that he is entitled to the sum of N35,343,058.31 and the sum of USD $2,600.00 as his total Redundancy Package from the said defendant’s Voluntary Release Program Policy in the West Africa Geomarket.
From facts, the claimant- Amadi Chukwuemeka had submitted that he was employed as a Senior Warehouseman and rose to the position of Inventory Specialist SR that parties agreed to be bound by policies of the defendants including the Voluntary Release Program (VRP), which did not at any time provide for redundancy and the defendants embarked on redundancy exercise without following the procedure provided for in the Labour Act and also failed, refused and/neglected to pay his redundancy package
In defense, the defendants averred that Martin Craighead and Baker Hughes Incorporated are not in any way responsible for the act of Baker Hughes Company and that the so-called Voluntary Release Programme (VRP) heavily relied upon by Amadi, was never introduced, developed, or applied in Nigeria, neither was it provided for in the Claimant’s Contract of Employment nor incorporated by reference into the said Contract of Employment.
The defendants continued that even though the word “Redundancy” was used in the notice issued to Amadi in terminating his employment, the termination was in line with the employment contract of the Claimant and he was paid all his entitlements.
In opposition, the Amadi’s Counsel went on that since the Defendants’ termination of his client’s Contract of Employment was not approved by the Minister through the DPR, that the purported two weeks basic salary paid to is a violation of principles of calculation of Redundancy payment which takes into consideration length of service, age and health before declaring the claimant redundant, urged the court to grant the reliefs sought.
Delivering the Judgment after careful evaluation of the submission of both parties, the presiding Judge, Justice Faustina Kola-Olalere held that the Amadi Chukwuemeka has discharged the onus of how his contract of employment was breached by showing that his employment was determined by redundancy, contrary to the terms and conditions of his employment.
The Court further held that Amadi Chukwuemeka has not made any case against Martin Craighead and Baker Hughes Incorporated, hence, the claimant’s alleged claims against them were dismissed.
“In addition, the Voluntary Release Program Policy in the defendants West Africa Geomarket that the claimant is urging the Court to calculate his Redundancy Package with is not before the Court as Exhibit; notwithstanding the fact that these two documents were listed in his list of documents at page 502 of the record. This again is fatal to the claimant’s case as the Court has nothing to base its decision on, for this claim.” The Court ruled.
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