A former employee of Tati River Clinic in Francistown, Labani Hove has taken the private clinic to Francistown High Court demanding close to P1 million for damages resulting from breach of contract. The case is before Francistown High Court Judge Barnabas Nyamadzabo. Hove who was employed by Tati River Clinic as a Finance and Administrative Manager claims that on the 1st of November in 2005 he entered into a contract of employment with the defendant (Tati River Clinic) which was to run from the 1st of November 2005 to the 31st of October 2008 and the contract was breached.
According to his summons, the plaintiff asserts that in terms of the contract of employment, upon termination of his contract he was entitled to be paid a gratuity of 15 percent of basic pay received during the contract period. At the time of the termination his basic pay was P15 000 per month but in calculating gratuity due to the plaintiff, the defendant used the plaintiff’s starting salary of P9 500 instead of the P15 000 resulting in him being under paid by an amount of P19 800.
In his second claim, Hove claims that on the 1st of November 2008 he entered into another contract of employment with Tati River Clinic which was to run from the 1st of November 2008 to 31st October 2011.
He says, it was an express term of the contract that either party could terminate the contract by giving three months’ notice and that in the event of such termination the plaintiff would be entitled to gratuity at 15 percent of basic pay pro-rated.
The plaintiff says that after working 12 months, he gave three months’ notice of his intention to terminate the contract of employment with the result that by the time of termination the plaintiff had worked for 15 months. However he claims that in computing the gratuity payable to him, Tati River Clinic based the length of his service to 12 months instead of 15 months which resulted in him being under paid by an amount of P9 112.50.
Hove further claims in his court documents that he entered into another contract of employment with the defendant on the 1st of May 2012, which was to run from the 1st of May 2012 to the 30th of April 2015. In terms of the contract, Tati River Clinic was to pay him a monthly salary of P40 000.
On the 22 of July 2013, the plaintiff claims that following a disciplinary enquiry which was both procedurally and substantively flawed, he was put to his defense without any evidence having been led against him. He claims that he was not allowed to present his defense fully or call witnesses. Tati River Clinic summarily terminated his employment.
As a result of the defendant’s unlawful termination of the contract of employment Hove claims that he suffered damages in the sum of P850, 909.09 being the amount that the plaintiff would have earned if the contract had been honored. He is also demanding that 10 percent interest rate per annum reckoned from the date of judgment to date of payment and the costs of legal suit be paid.
He has engaged Sifelane Thapelo of S.Thapelo Attorneys.
