Court awards woman 27-month windfall
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday May 4, 2022 06:00
This follows Sidilega having given Modisadife an employment contract and told her they would tell her to report for work, but the hospital never made the call. Now, Sidilega will have to fork out for work she never did. While waiting for the call, Modisadife had no idea that her employer had terminated her contract. Fortunately for Modisadife, the hospital's egregious termination of her employment will see her being paid a whopping P158,868. Judge Isaac Lesetedi said in the absence of any termination of a contract, the employee was entitled to her salary. “The complainant and the hospital entered into a contract of employment on December 19, 2019, which contract is in subsistence until lawfully terminated.
The hospital is in breach of its contractual obligation in failing to pay the complainant her monthly salary,” he said. Lesetedi ordered the hospital to pay the salary arrears from the date of the contract up to March 23 when the contract was terminated and also pay the cost of the suit emphasising that it was in the hospital’s power at all material times to lawfully terminate the contract. He explained that the contract had a provision with a mechanism for its lawful termination on one month’s notice or the pay of one month’s salary in lieu of such notice. “Yet Sidilega did not invoke this clause. Even at an earlier stage during the probatory period, they did not elect to utilise the termination clause on a shorter notice period provided for in the letter of offer. It has always been up to them to lawfully terminate the employment contract if so advised,” he said.
Meanwhile, the fact of the matter as stated is that on December 19, 2019, Modisadife accepted an offer by Sidilega for employment. In terms of the letter, it contained detailed terms and conditions of service. The date of commencement of the employment contract was January 1, 2020.
Further, the employment was subject to satisfactory performance during the first three months probation period on a permanent and pensionable basis at the above-mentioned salary per month. To signify the acceptance of the offer, the employee signed the tailpiece at the bottom of the offer letter added by the hospital for that purpose. The aggrieved stated on court papers that on December 23, 2019, she received a phone call from the employer’s representative informing her that she should not report for duty on the scheduled date and that she would be notified when to report for work.
Following unsuccessful numerous attempts to get answers from her employers, Modisadife engaged a lawyer, Uyapo Ndadi for assistance. Failing to settle amicably, Ndadi filed a court case on November 10, 2020, claiming salary arrears but the High Court refused her claim. The matter escalated to the CoA where Justices Lesetedi, Daniel Brand and acting Justice Ranier Busang, sent her laughing all the way to the bank.