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Kwasi Opoku Amankwa is Director General of the GES
The Industrial and Labor Division of the High Court of Accra ordered the Ghana Education Service (GES) to immediately reinstate a teacher who had been removed from office in 2013 due allegations that he had been away from clbad several times.
The Court ruled that an embargo against the salary of Mr. Augustine Mac-Hubert Gabla by the GES since 2013 meant that he had been fired "constructively", but the said dismissal was illegal, capricious and contrary to his fundamental rights guaranteed by law. Constitution of 1992.
In addition to ordering the GES to reinstate Mr. Gabla, the court also ordered the payment of all his salaries and gratuities, including surcharges and bonuses, which had been suspended since December 2013.
She also allocated GH ¢ 10,000 to Mr. Gabla, but rejected his claim for interest on all his outstanding salaries, explaining that it was not customary for a court to order the payment of interest. on wages. .
The court further found that Mr. Gabla's dismissal was a violation of articles 23, 190, 191 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution and of paragraph 9 of Law 506.
Article 23 deals with respect for the fundamental rights of individuals, Articles 190 and 191 protect public officials from victimization and prevent their dismissal without just cause, while Article 296 stipulates that the exercise of discretion must be fair and consistent process of the law.
Unfair treatment
According to the court, chaired by Judge Ananda Juliana Aikins, the GES violated the rules of natural justice by not giving Mr. Gabla an opportunity to respond to the allegations against him.
Judge Aikins felt that the GES should have initiated disciplinary proceedings against the teacher, in accordance with Article 9 of Ghana's 1995 Education Service Act. (Law 506), to enable him to react appropriately before deciding that he would have left his post on numerous occasions.
"The court concluded, based on the evidence before it, that the Applicant (Mr. Gabla) did not have a hearing on the issue of his alleged vacation.
"If the plaintiff actually absent himself from work without reasonable cause as the defendants claim, then it was incumbent on the first defendant's agents (GES) to subject the defendant to the disciplinary proceedings provided for by the first defendant's code. driving conditions and service and give the applicant the opportunity to be heard and subsequently the appropriate penalties applied where appropriate.
"The failure to do so amounts to a mockery of the rules of natural justice and was in the circumstances unfair to the plaintiff," said Judge Aikins.
The case of Mr. Gabla
Mr. Gabla was employed by the GES as a teacher in 1994. He has held various positions and, as of 2012, he was responsible for statistics at the Winneba Municipal Education Branch.
In December 2013, his salary was the subject of an embargo on allegations of allegations that he was a habitual absentee.
The teacher was unable to lift the embargo despite many efforts and in 2015 he sued the Director General of the GES and the Attorney General (A-G).
In his case, while he was a statistical officer, Winneba's municipal director of education would have asked him to mbadage characters, but he refused.
He claimed that after his refusal, he became a target of discrimination and was eventually transferred to the Anglican elementary school of Winneba to teach there.
According to him, while he was working at the elementary school, he participated in an interview for a position of statistics officer for the district of Awutu Senya.
His attorneys argued that because of the follow-up that followed the interview, he was unable to attend clbades every hour.
They further argued that the embargo imposed on their client's salary was discriminatory and that he had been constructively dismissed without just cause.
Among other reliefs, Mr. Gabla wished to be reinstated and all the wages due him were to be paid with interest.
Mr. Gabla was represented by the lawyer Victor Kwesi Opeku
The case of the defendants
Counsel for the defendants argued, however, that Mr. Gabla was habitually absent from his work and that his salary had been suspended for that reason and not his allegations of discrimination.
According to defense lawyers, even as a statistical officer, Mr. Gabla was not working regularly and was warned of this fact in a letter dated November 14, 2012.
According to them, it is after this warning that Mr. Gabla was transferred to the Anglican Elementary School on November 26, 2012.
They further baderted that even as a teacher at the Anglican elementary school, Mr. Gabla continued to be absent from clbad and that an embargo had therefore been put on his salary in 2013.
The defense argued that Mr. Gabla had neither resigned nor resigned and, therefore, was not entitled to the reparations he had requested from the court.
Decision of the court
In her judgment of June 26, 2019, Justice Aikins stated that there was no evidence on file to corroborate Mr. Gabla's claim that the City Manager asked him to disguise numbers. The GES was not wrong to transfer it either. .
The presiding judge, however, felt that the manner in which an embargo was imposed on the teacher's salary was illegal.
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