Joseph Whital is the CHRAJ boss Thirty-six former staff of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), dismissed in April this year, have petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for wrongful and unfair dismissal.
They want CHRAJ not to only declare the termination of their employment contracts as unfair, wrong and against their rights but to also ask that they should be compensated for the unjust treatment.
The 36 people are part of a group of 164 workers absorbed by the GCB after its takeover of the UT and Capital banks in August 2017, but whose appointments were later terminated by the bank after a probe into the pre-tertiary certificates of staff hired in 2017.
While some of the 164 affected workers claimed their sacking was illegal because it was arbitrary, two groups of the affected workers have dragged the GCB to court to stop it from using their pre-tertiary academic certificates as a basis for terminating their appointments.
The 36 have, however, turned to CHRAJ, to seek redress for what they think are infractions of their labour rights.
Reliefs
In an affidavit supporting their petition to CHRAJ, deposed by a labour consultant, Mr Seth Abloso, the 36 workers prayed the commission to look into the case and direct the GCB to respond to their complaints.
That was because the bank had failed to appear at meetings arranged by the Labour Department in the past, the petition stated.
The workers are also seeking that CHRAJ order the GCB to compensate and pacify them for the wrongful termination; for a declaration that they did not become unemployed as part of the purchase and assumption agreement which led to the takeover of UT and Capital banks by GCB and an order directing the bank to rectify all the breaches and infractions and abuse of rights, with interest.
Additionally, the workers want a declaration from CHRAJ that the termination of their appointments was wrong and unfair.
Mr Joseph Whital, the Commissioner of CHRAJ, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, has confirmed that a labour consultant, Mr Abloso, had petitioned the commission on behalf of the 36 affected workers.The petition was for CHRAJ to intervene in the matter. Assessment Mr Whittal said CHRAJ had undertaken an initial assessment to see if it was within its mandate to roll out a full-scale investigation into the matter.“An initial assessment has been undertaken by the commission to find out if its […]
