If you're unlawfully sacked you can sue your bosses. Jenny did & won...Rise above sh*t

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.”