Revisiting the Penalty of Summary Dismissal Vis-a-Vis the Remedy of Reinstatement under Nigerian Labour Law

Abstract

Recently, the law reports become loaded with cases on wrongful termination of employment as well as summary dismissal. When these issues arise, the inevitable accompanying issues are remedies of reinstatement and damages. This paper is an examination of the right of employers to visit the sanction of summary dismissal on their employees where occasion demands in the context of the terms and conditions of employment as well as the ultimate interest of the employer. The paper examines the meaning of summary dismissal as well as termination, bringing out their differences.Similarly, the nature of employments with statutory flavour is also examined in this work, thereby analysing situations where the remedy of reinstatement is available to a dismissed employee or not. This paper addresses the meaning of misconduct as well as justification for summary dismissal, taking a voyage into a plethora of judicial authorities, labour statues in Nigeria as well as international instruments on labour. Again, the issue of prosecution and conviction in a court of law before an employee accused of criminal misconduct is dismissed is also addressed in this work. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are made for better labour and industrial relations.