Workers battle Zenith Bank over severance benefits

Zenith Bank Building

Twenty four former employees of Zenith Bank are currently in a showdown with the bank over non-payment of their severance benefits.

About 200 persons were said to have received sack letters via email in April 25, 2012 after the close of work.

A former Assistant General Manager with Zenith Bank, Agege branch, Obiaku Okam, saids that the initial problem with the sack was the manner in which their severance packages were calculated.

She said, “I was already in bed after the day’s work when I got an email alert on my phone at about 10pm. When I checked it, it was from my employers, terminating my appointment with the bank with immediate effect.

“I began to receive calls from other persons whom I supervised- they were calling to tell me that they had just been sacked. I had no explanation, I told them that I had just been sacked too.”

Documents made available to PUNCH Metro showed that Okam also received via the disengagement email, a detailed account of her severance benefits.

“There were so many deductions made from my severance package. So much so that the amount left was ridiculous.

“For instance, as an AGM I had an official Prado jeep. I never asked the bank for the jeep but they went ahead to deduct the cost of the Jeep from the severance package.

“Not only that, they deducted the balance of my dressing and housing allowances, which are usually paid at the beginning of the year, from the same package,” Okam said.

A copy of the disengagement letter revealed the cost of the Prado jeep to be N9,056,250, while another N2, 071, 000 and N294,000 were deducted for housing and dressing allowance respectively.

Okam said, “I worked 14 years in that bank. The manner I was sacked is not right. If I had a pre-existing heart condition, when I got the email that night, I could have died from shock. They didn’t bother to even discuss the terms of our disengagement with us.

“Instead, a Prado jeep which I didn’t ask for was forced on me. Now that my housing allowance has been taken away, am I expected to retrieve my house rent from my landlord? If I had also bought clothes at the beginning of the year, am I expected to now return them because my dressing allowance was taken from my benefits?”

Another employee of the bank Niyi Lasisi said, “Our official emails were blocked that same day we received our sack letters. Although we all wrote to the bank later, voicing our displeasure over the severance benefits, we were totally ignored. Zenith bank did not follow the terms in the company handbook as relating to the severance benefits of staff.”

A copy of the handbook made available to PUNCH Metro revealed that an AGM of Zenith bank, who is to be disengaged, is entitled to two months notice, which if not given, will be paid in lieu.

The bank’s redundancy policy also stated, “Employees over five years of service were entitled to six weeks pay for each year of service. Before any employee is declared redundant, there shall be consultation between the bank and the staff concerned.”

Although 200 persons were sacked, most were said to have been reluctant to pursue legal redress. Eventually about 24 of them employed the services of a lawyer who filed a suit at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos.

“Not much has happened since the case was filed in November 2012. There were some documents the bank ought to have filed in response to our suit but they didn’t do so on time.

“In fact, our lawyer was a given a copy of their response in court on February 13. So the case was adjourned again to May,” Okam said.

A copy of the statement of facts made available to PUNCH Metro said, “Prior to their said disengagement by the defendant, the claimants were not given any notice of disengagement nor were they paid salary in lieu of notice as required by their aforesaid conditions of service and policy of the defendant.

“It was clearly stated that the claimants’ disengagement from the defendant’s bank was a result of the bank’s decision to carry out an unspecified restructuring of the bank.

“Most of the claimants worked for the defendant for over a period of 20, years and very few of them who spent the least number of years, worked for an upward of five years before their unlawful termination from the services of the bank.”

There was no response from Zenith Bank’s Corporate Communications Specialist, Mr. Akin Olaniyan as repeated calls to his phone went unanswered.

He also did not reply the text messages sent to his telephone.

PUNCH Metro also made efforts to reach Zenith Bank’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Victor Adoji, who neither returned the calls to his phone nor replied text messages sent to him.