The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Ibadan Judicial Division, has declared the indefinite suspension without pay of former employee Joy Ezeji Akudo Tochukwu by BNSL Limited wrongful and ordered the company to pay her ₦5.4 million in outstanding salaries and ₦500,000 in legal costs.
Delivering judgment on July 15, 2026, Justice Dele Peters held that the company’s failure to recall Tochukwu after her three-month suspension and its continued withholding of her pay amounted to an unfair labour practice. The outstanding salaries cover November 2018 to July 2019, when she resigned from the company.
Tochukwu had approached the court, challenging her suspension and subsequent termination of employment, arguing that the company failed to follow due process as stipulated in her employment letter and the staff handbook she relied on.
She told the court that she was suspended for three months without pay and was subsequently prevented from returning to work. She also alleged that she was not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations against her and that the company withheld her salaries and other entitlements.
The former employee had sought ₦200 million in general damages for the economic, emotional, physical and psychological hardship she said she suffered as a result of the company’s actions. She also asked the court to restrain BNSL Limited from harassing, intimidating or unlawfully arresting her or threatening to arrest her.
In its defence, BNSL Limited and the other defendants argued that discrepancies were discovered after Tochukwu’s suspension, prompting a forensic audit of the company’s operational processes.
The defendants also filed counterclaims seeking payments for alleged financial losses, unauthorised payments to suppliers, excess payments and salary in lieu of notice. They argued that Tochukwu failed to prove her entitlement to the reliefs she sought and did not provide evidence that she resumed work after her suspension expired.
They further contended that the staff handbook she relied on belonged to another company and could not be used against BNSL Limited, which they described as a separate corporate entity. Their counsel urged the court to dismiss her claims and grant the counterclaims.
However, Tochukwu’s counsel, O. A. Okeke, argued that his client had established her employment relationship with BNSL Limited through relevant employment documents.
He also submitted that the defendants failed to prove their counterclaims, adding that the forensic audit report could not establish the alleged financial misconduct without testimony from the person who prepared it.
In his judgment, Justice Dele Peters noted that the staff handbook presented by Tochukwu belonged to Bio-Organic Nutrient Systems Limited, while her employer’s registered name was BNSL Limited. He said there was no credible and admissible evidence establishing that the two companies were the same legal entity.
Despite this, the judge held that Tochukwu had not been recalled after the expiration of her three-month suspension and declared the indefinite suspension without pay wrongful, describing it as an unfair labour practice.
Justice Peters, while explaining the court’s position, referred to concerns about prolonged suspensions without pay and the hardship they can cause employees.
“The ILO Administrative Tribunal has criticised excessive long suspensions without pay, holding that suspension lasting many months is contrary to the inherently temporary nature and can cause severe hardship to the employee,” the judge said.
He added that although there was no contract between the parties specifically addressing suspension, the court took into account Tochukwu’s family responsibilities in reaching its decision.
The judge also found that the defendants failed to present sufficiently credible and admissible evidence to support their claims over alleged financial losses, unauthorised payments, excess payments to a supplier and salary in lieu of notice.
However, the court dismissed Tochukwu’s claim for ₦200 million in general damages, ruling that there was no evidence linking the losses she complained of to the defendants’ actions.
The court also refused her request for an order restraining the company from harassing, intimidating or unlawfully arresting her or threatening to arrest her.
The court further ordered the defendants to comply with the monetary judgment within 30 days. It ruled that the monetary sums awarded, excluding the ₦500,000 in legal costs, would attract interest at 20 per cent per annum if not paid within the stipulated period.
