The Commission on Human Rights and
Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has directed the GCB Bank to compensate 76
former members of staff of the bank with three month’s net salary at the
current salaries for each of the grades they were on before the termination of
their contracts.
Per the orders of CHRAJ, the GCB must compensate the sacked workers within
three months of CHRAJ’s decision, which was dated June 20, this year and signed
by the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Whittal.
The complainants are former members of staff of the defunct UT Bank and Capital
Bank who became the responsibility of the GCB Bank which, on August 14, 2017,
assumed the operations of the two banks under a Purchase and Assumption
Agreement (PAA) after the operating licences of the two banks (UT Bank and
Capital Bank) were revoked by the Bank of Ghana.
English and Mathematics
The GCB sacked the workers for not having passes in Mathematics and English
Language on their examination certificates.
In its findings of fact, CHRAJ said, among others, that the complainants were
not given prior notice that failure to obtain credit passes in English and
Mathematics would be the basis for the termination of their appointments.
It further directed that the affected members of staff who entered tertiary
institutions as mature students should be considered for re-instatement because
they did not require passes in English and Mathematics, after passing the
entrance examination to those tertiary institutions.
The commission further said former members of staff who had rewritten the
Mathematics and English papers and passed and submitted their results to the
GCB Bank should also be considered for re-appointment by the bank.
The decision by CHRAJ applied to two separate cases filed by the former workers
— Eleanor Tettey and 36 others, and Sandra Dede Kumi and 38 others.
According to CHRAJ, the workers deserved to be compensated for the manner in
which they were treated.
“They should be compensated for the traumatic experience of losing their jobs
when they had a legitimate expectation of being in the employment of the
respondent after successfully passing all checks and being issued appointment
letters and confirmation letters after they had worked for the requisite period
of probation,” it held.
Case
On May 29, 2019, a labour consultant, Seth Abloso, lodged a complaint on behalf
of Ms Eleanor Tettey and 36 others, whose appointments had been terminated by
the GCB Bank.
The complainants alleged discrimination and unfair and wrongful termination of
appointment by the bank.
The reliefs sought included a declaration to the effect that the probation and
issuance of new appointment letters, the reduction of salaries and the
termination of their appointments were wrongful and in breach of their
collective bargaining agreement.
They, thus, petitioned CHRAJ to direct the GCB Bank to pay compensation to all
the affected ex-staff.
On April 23, 2021, another petition, Kumi and 38 others and the GCB Bank, was
lodged, seeking the same reliefs as the previous case.
CHRAJ decided to stay investigations into the latter case and apply decisions
arrived at in the Eleanor Tettey and 36 others v the GCB Bank to it.
It served the complaint on the respondent, the GCB Bank, for its comments, in
line with the rules of natural justice.
Investigations
Beginning with its investigations, CHRAJ reviewed the GCB Bank’s responses,
together with the statement and affidavit sworn by Tettey on behalf of the 37
others, together with 14 other documents.
In accordance with regulations Six and Seven of the CHRAJ (Investigations
Procedure) Regulations 2010 (C.I. 67), the commission held 19 hearings after
the review of documents.
It also interviewed an official of the National Accreditation Board to have an
appreciation of the requirements for admission to various tertiary institutions.
From all that, CHRAJ gleaned seven issues to be answered in arriving at its
decision.
The issues included whether the complainants should be reinstated by the
respondents and also whether the complainants were entitled to compensation.
It applied the 1992 Constitution, the CHRAJ Act 1993 (Act 456), the Labour Act
2003 (Act 651), the collective agreement between the GCB Bank (Local Union) and
the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers of the Ghana Trades Union
Congress (GTUC) in arriving at the decision.
Source: graphiconline.com