Gam
Petroleum Storage Facility Ltd was recently dragged to the Kanifing Industrial Tribunal
by one Jalikebba Jobarteh, along with his colleagues, claiming damages for
unlawful and unfair constructive dismissal of their contract of employment by
the defendant estimated at D500,000.
Loss of earnings or salaries for fifteen months’ arrears of D82,500 at D5,500 basic salary from February 2012 to date, was also claimed in addition to cost of litigation at D75,000 and interest.
Magistrate Jobarteh, chairman of the Kanifing Industrial Tribunal, presided over the case.
The particulars of claim stated that the plaintiff was an employee of the defendant from 28 November 2008, to 17 March 2011, as a security guard.
Jalikebba Jobarteh claimed that on 17 March 2011, he was suspended pending a criminal investigation against him and some of his co-workers, who were all prosecuted and subsequently acquitted and discharged by the Banjul Magistrates’ Court on 16 November 2012.
The claim also stated that after the acquittal and discharge of the plaintiffs, the defendant had failed or neglected to reinstate them as required by the Labour laws of The Gambia.
He further claimed that by a letter dated 8 January 2013, he caused a letter to be written by Lawyer Lamin S. Camara on his behalf to the defendant, urging the defendant to reinstate him and to pay all his outstanding salaries and entitlement but the same had not been heeded to by the defendant.
Jalikebba averred that his contract of employment was constructively and unlawfully terminated without total regard for the law.
He finally claimed for damages of unlawful or unfair dismissal when the defendant deliberately failed to reinstate him, resulting in loss of earning of salaries for 15 months and entitlement under the Labour laws of The Gambia.
Jainaba Bah Sambou, who represented Jalikebba Jobarteh, and his colleagues, on 12 October 2013, would lead him to tell the tribunal what led to their termination that warranted them to sue their former employer.
Since the counsel for the defendant was not present at the tribunal, Jainaba Bah Sambou applied to the tribunal to award the plaintiffs cost of D40,000 but Chairman Jobarteh awarded them D3,000.