More than 60 former employees of Premium Pension Limited have dragged the company before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja, challenging their disengagement and the alleged refusal of the firm to pay their gratuities and other entitlements.
In the suit, the claimants argue that their disengagement was unlawful, arbitrary and carried out “with malice and bad faith,” insisting that Premium Pension disengaged them without stating any reason and had since failed to settle their legitimate benefits, despite repeated demands.
They contend that this has plunged them into severe hardship.
The suit was instituted by four former employees, Ibrahim Raji, Emmanuel Folorunsho, Mustapha Sulaiman, and Muhammed Ibrahim, who are suing in a representative capacity for themselves and 60 others who were also disengaged.
Premium Pension Limited is listed as the sole defendant.
The claimants are seeking eight declaratory orders and nine monetary claims.
They want the court to affirm that valid employment contracts existed between them and the company from the time they were appointed until their disengagement.
They further seek a declaration that the termination of their employment was wrongful, illegal and unlawful, citing the company’s failure to give adequate notice or pay salaries in lieu of notice, and alleging that the decision was taken “for no justifiable reason.”
The former staff are asking the court to compel Premium Pension to pay their gross emoluments in the form of a “lump sum equivalent to three months’ salary” as stated in their disengagement letters.
They are also seeking an order directing the company to pay their respective exit/gratuity packages, which they said had previously been approved by the company’s board and communicated to all staff.
They are additionally requesting an order mandating Premium Pension to pay their entitlements in full “without any deduction of purported liabilities.”
In their statement of facts, the claimants stated that they were all disengaged via letters dated August 4, 2025; however, the letters were backdated to July 29, 2025, and made effective from August 1, 2025.
They asserted that they had already resumed work in August before receiving the letters, thereby entitling them to the education subsidy paid annually in that month.
They accused the company of deliberately backdating the disengagement letters to deny them earned benefits and requisite notice or payment in lieu.
They further alleged that Premium Pension had refused to pay their profit share, as well as performance and productivity bonuses, despite numerous demands.
The claimants said the company’s actions “have subjected them and their dependants to financial hardship and emotional distress.”
They noted that Premium Pension had, in the past, paid exit packages and gratuities to other departing staff but had chosen to deny them similar benefits “out of greed and refusal to act responsibly.”
According to them, several attempts were made through engagements with former Board Chairmen, Alhaji Aliyu Abdurrahman Dikko, Mr Ibrahim Alhassan Babayo and Yunusa Yakubu, but all efforts failed to yield any resolution.
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