Forty-Six employees of the Eredec Hotel, at Koforidua at the weekend won a case for payment of severance awards, bonuses and salary arrears, among other claims, after their retrenchment following the divestiture of the hotel in 1997.
A Koforidua High Court on Friday entered judgement in their favour following an action they instituted against the Management of the Eastern Regional Development Corporation (ERDC), Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), and the Attorney - General.
The employees were claiming jointly and severally, from the defendants, severance compensation, outstanding bonuses, annual leave benefits, outstanding funeral grants and salary arrears.
Other claims included, damages for breach of contract, interest at current rate from the date of divestiture to date of payment and an order to restrain the defendants and their agents, from handing over Hotel Eredec to any purchaser until the payment of their entitlements.
Mr Justice Omari Sasu, an Appeal Court Judge, who sat on the case as an additional High Court Judge, adjourned until Friday, October 12, to give reasons for his ruling.
In their statement of claim the workers said they were governed by a collective agreement signed between them and the Management, which provided among other things, the payment of the above benefits to each worker.
Under the agreement, an employee was to be given a month's notice in the event of being declared redundant or retrenched, but in their case, this was not done.
On September 18, 1997, the employees said, DIC issued questionnaires to each of them. One of the questions was: "Will like to continue working for the hotel under the new management?"
They argued that the import of the said questionnaire showed that the defendants had effectively divested the hotel pending formal handing over. The workers said that they were entitled to be paid immediately by defendants their earned benefits, but they have jointly failed, neglected or refused to pay them their legitimate entitlements.
The employees, therefore, asked the to restrain the defendants from handing over the hotel to its new management until the payment of their entitlements.
Mr Justice E. K. Jones-Mensah appeared for the employees while Mrs Gethrude Aikins, Chief State Attorney appeared for the state and Dr Seth Agbolosu, represented DIC.
