Labour/Contract Terms

“It was me yall! I was sacked for not singing happy birthday”. These were the words of Twitter user, Paseda (@heymickeyp), on Monday March 21 2022, when the social media platform went berserk with heart-wrenching stories of #HorribleBosses.
Often times, many people use technical words like ‘sacked’, ‘dismissed’, resigned’ and ‘contract terminated’ interchangeably when they mean something else, but how exactly should these terms be used? What do they really mean? We have written this article to shed light on the meaning of some of these employment terminologies.
Before any employee can claim to have resigned, been sacked or summarily dismissed, there has to be an employment or contract of service in the first place.

An employment refers to a relationship between two parties – an employee and an employer – premised on an agreement requiring the former to deliver a service and the latter to pay for the specified service.
This agreement is bound by the engagement contract signed by both parties and evaluated by information contained in the employee handbook, company policy document and every memo exchanged between employee and employer throughout the lifetime of the contract.

According to Nigerian laws, either the employer or employee can end a contract of employment when they issue the other party a notice of employment termination within a period stipulated in the employee handbook or company policy document.

Contrary to popular belief, neither the employer nor employee needs to provide any reason for terminating a contract of employment as long as they follow the procedure for disengagement as contained in the employment contract, employee handbook or company policy document. When this procedure is not clearly covered in the aforementioned documents, the provisions of the Labour Act shall act as a guide.
The Nigerian Labour Law allows for either the employer or employee to tender a notice of employment termination when they do not feel like continuing the work relationship. When the contract of employment is terminated by the employee, it is commonly referred to as resignation.

Section 11 of the Labour Act states that when notice of termination is not tendered within the defined notice period, the party initiating the termination must make payment (as defined by employment contract, employee handbook or company policy document) to the other party in lieu of notice.

There is no universally agreed length of time for termination notice periods. However, notice periods are usually set based on how quick the employer thinks they can get a replacement for the departing employee. Usually, notice periods gets lengthier as employee advances in rank.

Often used interchangeably with ‘sack’ or ‘fire’, an employer can summarily dismiss their employee if they are able to prove that the employee had contravened core provisions of the employment contract, such that they have lost trust in the work relationship.
If an employee is confirmed to have committed gross misconduct that may include, but is not limited to, neglect of duty, insubordination, dishonesty, fraud or other crime, an employer may choose to dismiss them.
The definition of gross misconduct is usually covered in employee handbook and the policy document of each company. In cases where gross misconduct is not clearly defined in these documents, employer is obligated to establish a disciplinary process, which the employee must go through for fair hearing and proper recommendations.

• 1. Read all engagement contracts carefully. We advise that you speak with a legal adviser before appending your signature on any such document.
• 2. We encourage employers to consult their legal advisers before summarily dismissing any employee. This will reduce the possibility of being guilty of breach of contract.
• 3. Companies are advised to ensure that their Human Resources departments state clearly the difference between employment termination and summary dismissal in their company documents.