[2010]DLSC2583 • May 26, 2010 • Supreme Court •
OPARE YEBOAH & 8 ORS vs. BARCLAYS BANK GHANA LIMITED
The appellants, employees and local union executives of Barclays Bank Ghana Limited, were issued letters of summary dismissal by the bank on 26 February 2008, effective retrospectively from 11 January 2008. The dismissal was based on allegations that the appellants instigated and supported an illegal strike action on 14 November 2007, in breach of the Labour Act 2003 and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The appellants disputed the charges and challenged the legality of their dismissal in court.
read moreWOOD (MRS), CJ:- The salient facts leading to the institution of the action, from which this appeal culminates, are indeed quite simple. The 1st-8th appellants worked at various branches of the respondent bank as employees; and served also as local union executives of the 9th appellants, the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union. On the 26th February, 2008, the respondent bank, purportedly acting under article 17 of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between themselves and their employees, issued out letters to the 1st – 8th appellants, dismissing them retrospectively from their employment, that is, from the 11th January, 2008, the date on which the respondent put them on notice of summary dismissal; viz, notice of the bank’s intention to dismiss them without pay in lieu of notice. The respondents’ action was triggered by an alleged illegal activity instigated by the 1st -8th appellants, working in concert with others, on the 14th of November, 2007. The alleged actions ...