BENNETT ACQUAH IMPRAIM & 204 OTHERS VS UNIVERSITY OF GHANA
2015
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE LAURENDA OWUSU
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
- Employment Law
2015
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Plaintiffs, retired employees of Defendant, sought Ex-Gratia arrears based on the SSSSP. The court found some Plaintiffs ineligible due to less than ten years of service. Those eligible were awarded arrears and interest based on the SSSSP. The court highlighted several legal principles including burden of proof and handling of unchallenged evidence.
By an amended Writ of Summons the 1st Plaintiff and 204 others claim against the Defendant the following reliefs:
1. Arrears of Ex-Gratia awards based on the new salary on the Single Spine Salary Structure Policy (SSSSP) upon which salary arrears were paid to Plaintiffs by Defendant.
2. Interest on all monies due each Plaintiff from September, 2011, the date Plaintiffs were migrated onto the SSSSP until the final date of payment at the prevailing Commercial Bank Lending rate 3. An order directing the Defendant to transfer all SSNIT Contributions deducted from Plaintiffs salaries which have not yet been paid including Defendant’s own statutory contributions that ought to be added for SSNIT to work out any arrears due Plaintiffs.
4. Cost of 10% on the principal amount to be paid to each Plaintiff as legal fees.
5. Any other relief as the Court may deem fit.
By an accompanying Statement of Claim, the Plaintiffs who are former employees of the Defendant and have retired from active service between the period July 2010 and 2011 aver that they all served in various capacities within the Defendant Institution for over ten years before retiring.
According to them by the conditions of service of the Defendant any employee who has served in the institution for more than ten years shall on retirement be paid an ex- gratia award of one month’s salary for every successful year of service.
It is their case that employees of the Defendant migrated to the Single Spine Salary Structure Policy (SSSSP) in January, 2010 but the commencement of the policy took effect from September, 2011. Plaintiffs claim that the Defendant deemed it fit to pay them their salary arrears when they had retired from active service with the explanation that they should have been given a higher salary effective January, 2010 but for the delay in implementing the Salary Structure.
It is their case further that before their salary arrears were paid to them they had been paid their ex- gratia based on the old salary and that calculation on the ex-gratia should be based on their salary in January, 2010 upon which they were paid their salary arrears.
They further state that their Social Security Contributions were deducted from the salary arrears paid them but same were not paid to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to be used in calculating their pensions and the result being that SSNIT used their old salaries in calculating their pensions.
The Defendant entered appe