Eden's Nigerian king gets €10k for unfair dismissal by Tesco

A Nigerian king living in Edenderry has been awarded €10,000 by the Employment Appeals Tribunal after taking an unfair dismissal case against Tesco Ireland. Edward Agbaje, of 250 The Sycamores, Edenderry, took the case against the grocery chain after being dismissed in November 2008 when he failed to return to work from holidays at the specified time. The Tribunal heard from Tesco that Mr Agbaje had taken his full allocation of annual leave in April 2008 when he returned to his home village in Nigeria, where he had been elected king. He returned to work two weeks late on this occasion, but Tesco accepted his explanation for his late return and no disciplinary action was taken. Mr Agbaje then sought unpaid leave in November 2008 and Tesco said he was granted one week's leave and was due to return to work on November 17, 2008. Mr Agbaje told the Tribunal he had been given two weeks leave. The Tribunal heard from Tesco that Mr Agbaje had not returned to work on November 17 and a letter was sent to his home asking him to contact the personnel manager by November 21, but no reply was received. Again on November 24 Tesco wrote to Mr Agbaje saying his employment had been terminated as he had failed to return to work on November 17. Mr Agbaje told the Tribunal he had not received these letters and returned to work on December 1. On this day he was called to a disciplinary hearing, but was not offered representation, and was dismissed. The personnel manager told the Tribunal she had contacted an official in Tesco's head office in Dublin and had followed company procedures in relation to the dismissal. However, she agreed that the guidelines outlined in the company handbook concerning serious misconduct had not been adhered to. Mr Agbaje's case was that he tried to make contact with the company. A witness who had been working on the customer service desk in November 2008 told the Tribunal she had received a phone call from Mr Agbaje from Nigeria. After being unable to get hold of a duty manager Mr Agbaje left a message for his line manager that he would be unable to return to work when he was due back and the customer service representative passed on the message. Mr Agbaje told the Tribunal he had been working for Tesco since May 9, 2006, and after becoming king of his village in April 2008 he had told the company he may have to return to his local village at a later stage. The Tribunal heard he is currently driving a taxi and earns €31 per week from this after expenses. Under cross examination Mr Agbaje accepted Tesco had treated him well when he returned to work late from Nigeria in May 2008. He agreed that he had received training in absence reporting and accepted that the reports of his absences were not in line with company procedures. He also told the Tribunal he was aware of the company's disciplinary procedures but these were not mentioned to him at the time of his dismissal. The union shop steward, who had worked for Tesco for 14 years, told the Tribunal he was not notified when Mr Agbaje was dismissed and was not included in the dismissal procedure at any stage. He had previously been involved in cases where employees had been dismissed and this was the first time he had not been told that an employee had been sacked. The Tribunal found that Tesco failed to adhere to any of the procedures in effecting the dismissal, including its failure to provide Mr Agbaje with a representative when attending his disciplinary hearing which culminated in his dismissal. The Tribunal found that he was unfairly dismissed, although there was an element of contribution on his part. Mr Agbaje was awarded €10,000 under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007 and a further sum of €606, being the equivalent of two weeks pay under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973 to 2005. The Tribunal found no evidence was produced to support the claim under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 and so this claim failed.