19 ex-workers of FBN Bank sue for unlawful retirement

Victor Kwawukume Mar - 16 - 2016 , 10:55

Nineteen former employees of Nigerian-owned FBN Bank Ghana Limited, formerly called the International Commercial Bank (ICB) Limited, have sued the bank at the Industrial and Labour High Court for unlawful retirement.

The former employees comprise senior management staff and senior and junior officers who had worked with the bank for between four and 18 years and aged between 50 and 59 years.

Persistent abuse

In a statement of claim, the ex-employees averred that since the defendant bank took over the ICB in the last quarter of 2013, the new management, as a strategy to reduce the staff strength, subjected the staff to persistent verbal abuse, threats of dismissal and the use of transfers to victimise them.

They claimed that the managing director of the defendant bank used of unprintable words on staff and managers at meetings and that over 40 members of staff had resigned since he assumed office in December 2014.

It is their contention that the defendant bank made them redundant between December 2014 and May 2015 under the guise of “early retirement”, in flagrant violation of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and the conditions of service for managers of the bank.

They held that there was no provision in the CBA, the conditions of service or the Labour Act of 2003 termed “early retirement”.

Discrimination and reliefs

They also claimed that Nigerian management staff aged between 50 and 59 years were exempted, a situation which they described as unfair, unjust, contrary to law and against the human rights of the affected staff.

They are, therefore, praying for a determination that the “early retirement” conducted by the defendant bank was redundancy and an order directed at the bank to pay their redundancy packages, in accordance with law and in line with the CBA and conditions of service.