Sixty-four former employees of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) on Tuesday dragged the service to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos, demanding N7.5m as compensation over alleged illegal termination of their appointment.
The aggrieved workers, who were disengaged from service in 2013, are urging the court to declare the termination of their appointment a breach of contract of service, therefore illegal.
The workers also want the court to order FIRS to pay them five months salaries each, from the month of August to December 2013, being the unexpired terms of their appointment as contained in the memorandum of understanding, MOU.
Counsel to the ex-employees, Barrister Olamilekan Matti, said most of them had put in several years of meritorious service ranging between 10 and 20 years.
Matti said the FIRS had used the ploy of inadequate academic qualifications to dismiss the staff adding that the service through a letter dated July 15, 2013, terminated their employment with effect from July 31, 2013, which was five months before the deadline given to them to attain additional academic qualifications.
Meanwhile, the FIRS has urged the court to dismiss the suit because it lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. It argued that the court was barred from hearing the suit due to a statute provided for in the Public Officers’ Protection Act. It added that the complainants had been paid their severance benefits.
