Court orders Guinness to pay N52.456m damages to former employee

Guinness Nigeria Plc and three other parties have been ordered to pay disgruntled former employee Bright Nwosu the sum of N52,456,000 million for unlawful termination of employment by the National Industrial Court in Port Harcourt.

On September 18, 2019, Bright Nwosu, a Sales Executive who started working for Guinness Nigeria Plc in 2004, filed a lawsuit against the company as a defendant after being unjustly let go.

Guinness Nigeria Plc erred when it fired Nwosu without cause, the court presided over by Justice Nelson Ogbuanya ruled in the case designated NICN/PHC/108/2019. The court added that the evidence before the court demonstrated that the fired employee was conscientious in his work before his employment was terminated.

However, the court ruled that the Guinness employee handbook's provision that stipulates that employees may be fired without specifically indicating the reason for the termination is unacceptable.

The Judge subsequently mandated that Guinness pay Nwosu N19 million and N886,000 (Eight hundred and eighty-six thousand Naira for his terminal benefit and gratuity, having worked for 15 years prior to his dismissal) as his final benefits and gratuity.

The court then mandated that Guinness pay Nwosu's two unpaid months' worth of wages in lieu of notice, totalling N570,000 (five hundred and seventy thousand Naira).

In addition, Justice Ogbuanya ordered Guinness to pay Nwosu N30 million in damages for the unfair work practises he endured, as well as N2 million in court costs to the claimant (Nwosu). 

The judge made it clear that all monetary awards made in the claimant's favour must be paid within two months of the date the judgement was delivered; otherwise, he or she warned, that a 10% interest charge would be added to the amount until it was entirely liquidated.

Cletus Azunku, the claimant's attorney and the guy holding A. A. Brown's brief, praised the court's decision in a conversation with our correspondent outside the courthouse.

He claimed it would act as a deterrence to firms in the nation who mistreat their workers.

Azunku stated, “The judgment is a very good one, it serves as a deterrent to every other employer.

“In the classification of employment under our labour law, this falls under master-servant relationship, even though that master has the prerogative to terminate a contract of employment at any point in time, records must be heard to the provision of the contract of employment if there should be any regulation at all, then the provision must be followed to the letter.”

K. C. Eze, the defence attorney representing the defendants, declined to respond when he was contacted, claiming he wasn't licenced to do so.

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