DANAA NANTOMAH v. THE RESIDENT DIRECTOR, FRIEDRICH EBERT STIFTUNG

JUDGMENT

Plaintiff in a writ issued on the 11th of March, 2013 claimed per the endorsement the following reliefs against the defendant:

i. A Declaration that the purported termination of the employment is tantamount to wrongful dismissal and or termination and is unlawful.

ii. Damages for wrongful dismissal and or termination.

iii. An order that the Defendant shall pay to the Plaintiff all entitlements due to him at the date of dismissal and or termination under his employment contract and or Conditions of Service in the workplace.

iv. Damages for discriminatory and unfair labour practice.

v. Any other relief found due

PLAINTIFF’S CASE

Plaintiff recounts the grounds upon which he mounts the claim he seeks in the statement of claim that he was employed by the Defendant as its Programme Coordinator in April 2009, and was made a permanent staff two years afterward in 2011.

Plaintiff claim that during his employment he spearheaded the unionisation of the employees of the Defendant even though the Resident Director was opposed to the idea of the unionisation of the employees. Plaintiff avers that without any prior consultation with or input from the employees, the management of the Defendant company drafted and served on the employees new Conditions of Service which the employees were required to sign.

Plaintiff asserts that he and other leaders of the local union resisted the management’s efforts and this made him a specific target of Defendant’s Resident Director.

Plaintiff states that in or about 2012 he coordinated a programme which involved a visit of a member of Parliament of Germany to Ghana, Dr. Barbel Kofler. At the conclusion of the programme the Resident Director orally reviewed the programme with the Plaintiff. Plaintiff states further that subsequently the Resident Director of the Defendant in her determination to find fault with the Plaintiff served on him a letter terminating his employment.

It is the case of the Plaintiff that the action of the Resident Director is in breach of the rules of natural justice- audi alteram partem and is clearly a punitive action against him. Plaintiff avers that the acts of the Resident Director amount to wrongful dismissal. Plaintiff therefore claims that he has been denied his lawful entitlements under his contract of employment and conditions of service, and has suffered substantial damages.

DEFENDANT’S CASE

Defendant denies all the material averments made by the Plaintiff, and makes the case that