The Presiding Judge, Enugu Judicial Division of the National Labor Court, Hon. Judge Oluwakayode Arowosegbe has overturned Mr. Basil Offoh’s suspension from office as illegal; and he ordered the Enugu Institute of Management and Technology, Chancellor and Treasurer to recall Mr. Offoh with immediate effect and place him on his full salary and that all full salary arrears of him be paid immediately.

The Court declared the Institute’s arbitrary, malicious and unauthorized deduction of half of Mr. Basil Offoh’s salary as a flagrant violation of the 1999 Constitution.

Judge Arowosegbe granted AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS ordering the Enugu Institute of Management and Technology, Chancellor and Treasurer to issue Mr. Basil his payment receipts for the months of June 2021 to February 2022 within seven days, and granted the sum of five million naira (N5,000,000) as exemplary damages against the Institute.

From the facts, the claimant, Mr. Basil Offoh, had alleged that he has been receiving half of the salaries from 2019 to January 2022 and that it was surprisingly reduced by February 2022. He stated that he sought the reason of the Treasurer, who said that the reduction was in order, and all efforts to obtain his right were abortive.

In defense, the defendant, Enugu Institute of Management and Technology, Chancellor and Treasurer, asserted that Mr. Basil had been suspended from April 2018 to date and was not entitled to annual increases, which were improperly paid to him and deducted of your subsequent payments. .

The Institute’s lawyer stated that the Enugu State Public Service Rules prohibit the annual increase of civil servants in case of suspension and that the Court cannot grant a writ of mandamus in this situation.

In response, the plaintiff’s lawyer, PO ILOELUNACHI Esq, asserted that the Enugu State Public Service Regulations do not apply to his client as he is a civil servant and his suspension had already been overturned by the court, which the institute was still paying him. half salary in disobedience to judgment.

He also indicated that his client was discriminated against in this matter of increase during the suspension because his colleague who was also suspended received an increase within the time without the Chancellor ordering his deduction.

Pronouncing the judgment after careful analysis of the submission by both parties, the presiding judge, Judge Olukayode Arowosegbe, held that SSCS, which contains Mr. Basil’s conditions of service, is the Rules applicable under SS. 38 and 39 of the IMTL and S. 318 (1) of the Constitution, which made a distinction between public servants and civil servants.

The Court stated that Basil Offoh’s discrimination argument that another furloughed staff member similar to him had his annual increase has not been refuted, and the Nigerian ILO upheld that it prohibits discrimination in employment relations on the basis of ethnic distinctions and politics, among others.

The COURT declared the refusal and omission of the Institute to issue Mr. Basil his pay slips for the months of June 2021 to January 2022 despite his two requests as a violation of labor law and constitutes an unfair labor practice.

“They have not even been able to prove that they legally suspended him. To make matters worse, for more than four years they have been playing arbitrarily with their half salaries, without the courtesy of previous or contemporary explanations. These catalogs of ill-treatment are definitive of serious unfair labor practices and as a whole, they constitute a clear constructive dismissal and workplace harassment, which the law disapproves of.

“Therefore, the claimant is not required to make any refund and amounts illegally deducted from the claimant’s wages must be refunded, while the claimant must be removed from the stay with immediate effect and placed on his full lawful wages and, all your arrears of payment in full. wages paid immediately.” Judge Arowosegbe ruled.

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