If you're unlawfully sacked you can sue your bosses. Jenny did & won

* If you're unlawfully sacked you can sue your
bosses. Jenny did & won
People get sacked indiscriminately in this country
and they don't know that they can actually sue
and get compensated. Jennifer Adighije Okolo, the
creative director of House of Silk, sued her former
bosses and won. According to a report by Maestro
Media, an Industrial Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos
gave a ruling in favour of Jennifer against her
former employer, Helios Towers, a telecom firm.
In the court ruling, the Telecom firm would
need to pay, Jennifer Adighije-Okolo N13.55
million for unfairly terminating her
employment. Jennifer before the sack was the
company's Head of Operations & Planning.
The Company had terminated their former
employee's appointment for what they had
termed poor performance (performing below
par), Jennifer not satisfied with how she was
sacked had taken the company to the Industrial
Court, Ikoyi, Lagos seeking for redress. The end
result of the case is her winning #9 Million
which is the sum total of her salary from
between February 1, 2010 to January 31, 2012.
Apart from the #9 Million, the defendant would
also be paying the claimant another #4.5
Million for damages and also awarded in the
claimant's favour is another #50,000 cost.
According to Jennifer, she had been graded
excellent by her immediate boss in her yearly
appraisal, only for another appraisal body (the
management review team) to have given an
appraisal of below average, consequent upon
which her appointment was terminated.
In his Judgement, Justice O. Abaseki-Osaghae said
- The claimant testified as the only witness in
support of her claims. She also stated that her
performance was very much appreciated by the
defendant that when there was a job rotation, she
was asked to take charge as Head, Operation/
Planning in September 2009. That all through her
employment with the defendant, she was
conscious of her personal objective with the
defendant company, which she knew would form
the basis of her rating in the annual appraisal.
"It is the law that an employer is not bound to
give reason for terminating the appointment of its
employee but where the employer gives a reason,
the law imposes on him a duty to establish the
reason to the satisfaction of the court.
“I find that the said management review team
was acting out a script when, spitefully,
maliciously and without any basis, wrote on the
claimant’s appraisal form ‘Below expectation’ and
recommended that her appointment be
terminated.”
 The court upheld the claimant’s position that she
was entitled to compensation, since she signed
the restrictive covenant, not to work for any other
telecommunication company, until after two years
of her leaving the company. “She has kept to
this covenant. I, therefore, award the sum of
N9million as compensation being her salary for
two years from January 2010 to January 31, 2012
pursuant to section 19 (d) of the National
Industrial Act, 2006.
 “For all the reasons given above, I find that the
claimant has proved her case. I hereby, declare
and make the following orders: the claimant’s
employment with the defendant was wrongfully
terminated. The letter of termination is hereby set
aside. The reason given in the termination notice
written by the defendant that the claimant’s
“performance has failed to meet acceptable
standard” is false and malicious.
“The defendant is to pay the claimant the sum of
N4.5million as damages for wrongful termination
of her appointment. The defendant is to pay the
claimant the sum of N9million as compensation
for the period February 1, 2010 to January 31,
2012. The sums are to be paid within 30 days
from the date of this judgment. I award in favour
of the claimant cost of N50, 000 to be paid by the
defendant. Judgment is entered accordingly.”