DIVINE TORNYE VS NEWMONT GHANA GOLD LTD
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE LAURENDA OWUSU
Areas of Law
- Employment Law
- Evidence Law
- Insurance Law
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The plaintiff, a former Drill Operator, sued the defendant company for compensation related to medical retirement due to Lumbar Spondylosis. The court held that while the defendant must provide necessary medical reports to SSNIT, the plaintiff's claim that his waist problem was occupational and thus compensatory was not substantiated. Additionally, the plaintiff was not entitled to compensation for delays in processing his invalidity pension. The defendant's counterclaim for mistakenly paid sums was also dismissed. The case involved key principles from Employment Law, Evidence Law, and Insurance Law.
By an amended Writ of Summons filed on the 3rd of February, 2016, the Plaintiff herein is claiming the following reliefs:
a. A declaration that the waist problem the Plaintiff suffered whiles in the employ of the Defendant on the basis of which Plaintiff was medically retired after surgery was occupational and therefore compensatory.
b. An order to the Defendant to compensate the Plaintiff for the waist problem he developed in the course of his employment as a Drill Operator.
c. A declaration that the Defendant is obliged to satisfy SSNIT with the ground upon which the Plaintiff was retired on medical ground on 30th June 2013. d. An order to the Defendant to answer the questionnaire served on it by the Tarkwa Branch of SSNIT and also deliver the Plaintiff’s medical report to SSNIT as requested.
e. An order to the Defendant to pay Plaintiff compensation for the delay occasioned by the Defendant’s refusal to answer the questionnaire from SSNIT and also deliver the Plaintiff’s medical report to SSNIT as requested to enable SSNIT to process the Plaintiff’s invalidity pension.
f. Defendant be mulcted with the cost of instituting this action and all other incidental expenses.
THE PLAINTIFF’S CASE The Plaintiff sets out his case in his amended Statement of Claim, his Reply and his Evidence in Chief contained in his Witness Statement filed on the 5th of February, 2016. His case is that from the year 2007 he was working as a Drill Operator for the Defendant Company and started experiencing severe waist pains.
He claimed that he was repeatedly treated and later diagnosed by the Ahodwo Hospital in Kumasi as having Lumbar Spondylosis for which he underwent surgery.
According to him, the Defendant saw his waist pain as non-occupational and by a letter dated 10th June 2013, Defendant terminated his employment on grounds of medical retirement effective 30th June 2013. Plaintiff further claimed that thereafter, he received a letter dated 23rd December, 2013 which stated among others that following the completion of his exit medical examination he had been diagnosed as suffering from Sensorineural Hearing Loss which the Defendant’s medical officer classified as occupational and for which he was duly compensated.
Plaintiff’s case is that the Defendant failed to compensate him for the Lumbar Spondylosis and has refused to provide him with a comprehensive medical report requested by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in respect of his invalidity