Former worker of Vodafone sues company
A former worker of Vodafone Ghana, Stephen Odonkor Odugbatey, who was sacked after an accident in his line of duty, has sued the company for GH¢2,500,000.
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The amount is also expected, to cater for his medical expenses since Vodafone failed to properly take care of his medical needs prior to sacking him.
In addition, he is asking for the payment of all salaries owed him from the date of the termination of his appointment on October 5, 2012 to date with the due increments, bonuses and allowances that he was entitled to.
Violation of bargaining agreement
The plaintiff is also seeking a declaration that the failure of Vodafone to properly rehabilitate him after his industrial accident before terminating his appointment was in breach of Articles 20 and 27 of the Collective Agreement of the company at the time and also breached similar provisions under the Labour Act 651 of 2003.
He contended that the termination of his appointment was discriminatory and amounted to an unfair labour practice.
A statement of claim accompanying the writ of summons said Mr Odugbatey was a trained field technician and was appointed by Vodafone as a field engineer from February 1, 2005 until his appointment was unlawfully terminated on October 5, 2012.
Accident in the line of duty
Mr Odugbatey contended that while in the employment of Vodafone, he was efficient and met his performance targets without failure until he suffered a near-fatal accident on October 1, 2009 while on his way to repair a fault at Kisseman at Dome, Accra.
He claimed that he was in Vodafone’s official vehicle being driven by its official driver when it somersaulted about four times and hit a ditch, causing him to become unconscious for three days.
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A medical report by Lt Col (Dr) S. O Awuku of the 37 Military Hospital, according to the statement, showed that Mr Odugbatey was badly incapacitated as he had blunt trauma to the back of his body, dislocation of the vertebral column, contusion of the soft tissue of the back, loss of dentures, lacerations in the buccal cavity with haemorrhage, dislocation of the mandibular bone joint, blunt trauma to both eyes, shattered left elbow among many other serious injuries.
He said while still on treatment, the company “insensitively laid him off on September 15, 2010”.
After a serious protest for almost one year, he averred, Vodafone retracted his redundancy on July 14, 2011 and he started work again on August 1, 2011, and was at the Takyi Plaza station on the Spintex Road where he was stationed before the unlawful termination of his job.