Court strikes out N10m compensation suit against Skye Bank

Skye Bank

The National Industrial Court, Abuja on Tuesday struck out a suit instituted by one Louisa Ugwu, against her former employer, Skye Bank Plc, seeking N10million as general damages.

Justice Rakiya Haastrup, dismissed the suit, on the grounds that the claimant was paid her entitlements, including one-month basic salary in lieu of termination, which she accepted.

Haastrup said that the claimant’s disengagement was not wrongful, and the claimant not entitled to any relief, and dismissed the suit accordingly.

Enewa Chris-Garuba, the claimant’s counsel had told the court that her client was disengaged from the defendant’s employment as a result of redundancy, and therefore, she deserved to be paid redundancy allowance.

She argued that the purported disengagement of her client was contrary to Section 20 of Labour Act.

As part of the claim sought for by the claimant, she prayed the court to declare her disengagement unlawful, illegal, malicious and unfair.

She also sought for increment in her final benefit which she termed as grossly inadequate.

The defence counsel, Nnamdi Okolo in his submission, argued that the disengagement of service was not based on redundancy as claimed by the claimant, but was simply based on services no longer required.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Ugwu who had worked for over 20 years in the bank rose to the position of a senior manager in 2009 before she was disengaged by Mainstreet Bank which was acquired Skye Bank in 2014.