Court Orders Hotel Presidential To Pay Sacked Workers

Hope of 28 sacked junior staff of Hotel Presidential came alive Thursday as a state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt ordered the management of the hotel to pay the workers their emolument including gratuities.

Presiding Judge, Justice Boma Diepiri apart from other judgements on a mater brought before the court by the workers, ordered the hotel to pay the sacked workers their full salaries and other benefits from August 2004 to July 2006, and awarded N280,000 cost against the hotel.

The Justice Diepiri declared that the hotel management erred by sacking the workers, while their matter was pending in court.

According to him, the hotel management having issued a suspension letter to the claimants under Article 19 (E) as condition of service would not have dismissed the claimants form the service of the hotel as it goes against their employment agreement.

The judge held that the claimants employment was governed by their employment letters and the junior staff workers conditions of service, adding that their employment could only be terminated after the outcome of court decision.

Though, he noted that the hotel management had powers to sack the workers, however in a situation such as this, such action amounts to unlawful dismissal since the measure of damages was prima facie the amount the claimant would have earned had his or her employment continued.

Justice Diepiri said that in termination of an employer’s appointment, an employer should take adequate steps to minimize damages the victims would suffer.

However, he remarked that in a situation an employer fails to do so then he or she must also bear the brunt, “this is because the law does not help a situation where a dismissed servant folds his hands and expects the court to award him damages for choosing to stay idle,” he added.

In the light of this, the judge said, “in my humble view a period of two years from the date of dismissal would have been enough for the claimants to have seriously engaged in some other jobs.”

The staff had on 2nd June 2004 embarked on a protest to protest some of the hotel policies. It was after the protest that they were suspended.

Though justice Diepiri alluded to the suspension, he said the workers would have been placed on half salary pending the outcome of the police investigation.

However, the staff were finally dismissed on 26th July, 2004 and had since been in court to challenge the hotel’s management action.