Lotto Company pays compensation to dismissed worker

Accra, March 15, GNA - Stephen Asare Enterprise Limited (SAEL), a lotto company, has presented a cheque for 10 million cedis to the National Labour Commission (NLC) as part of a redundancy package for Mr Theophilus Starza Afful, a former worker of the company.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the NLC and signed by Mr Mohammed Affum, Public Relations Officer, said this followed an application filed by the Commission at an Accra High Court to compel SAEL to comply with an NLC order to pay compensation of 17,550,300 cedis to Mr Afful.

The statement said the remaining balance of 7.55 million cedis would be paid by SAEL at the end of the month.

It said the cheque was handed to counsel for the NLC in court on Monday by counsel for SAEL just before the application was to have been heard by Mr Justice James Benson.

It said the Commission went to court to enforce Section 172 of the Labour Law, which stipulated that where any person failed to comply with a direction or an order issued by the Commission, "the Commission shall make an application to the High Court for an order to compel that person to comply with the direction or order".

The statement said following a petition against the unlawful dismissal by Mr Afful, a former Assistant Manager in July 2005, the Commission wrote to SAEL on August 9 and September 12, 2005, for comments in order to facilitate a settlement of the grievance, but the company did not respond.

It said the company had written to Mr Afful on August 11, 2005, to declare him redundant, but offered to pay him compensation of 17,550,300 cedis, which was accepted by the petitioner and adopted by the Commission as their terms of settlement.

It said the NLC resorted to the court action after SAEL had failed to pay the petitioner his compensation, in spite of warning letters issued to it by the Commission.