48 more ex-OBM workers seek compensation
Barely a month after 44 former employees of Opportunity Bank Malawi (OBM) claimed K800 million compensation for unfair dismissal during restructuring, 48 more retrenched staff have filed a claim for K500 million for the same.
The 48 former employees were retrenched when the bank closed its agencies and branches in Livingstone, Lunzu and Kabula in Blantyre; Fatima, Nsanje; Nchalo in Chikwawa; Mwanza; Luchenza and Thekerani in Thyolo; and Limbuli in Mulanje last month.
In their demand letter dated July 16 2016 filed by Blantyre-based private practice lawyer Alfred Vincent Mumba, the former employees are demanding damages for unfair dismissal equivalent to five years’ salary per claimant, violation of their right to fair labour practices of K3 million, damages for defamation of K5 million each and terminal benefits that were debited from their accounts to offset or reduce loans all totalling to around K700 million.
Further, the former workers claim that the closure of the branches was made without prior notification and they were seeking defamation payouts because they were treated like criminals.
The ex-employees allege that the bank deployed officers accompanied by armed police officers who forcibly ordered them to immediately cease working, handover company property and vacate their offices.
The letter adds that consultation meetings between the bank and employees prior to the closing of the branches were not in good faith and that the presence of armed police and the locking out of offices was defamatory and has affected their chances of employment.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, Mumba said the closure of branches were like Hollywood movie scenes as the employees were locked inside and armed police surrounded the bank. The lawyer also confirmed that OBM has been served with the demand and the bank has acknowledged receiving it.
OBM deputy chief executive officer Bernard Mkandawire confirmed that the bank received the demand for compensation from the former employees. But he said the bank followed all legal channels before retrenching the employees.
The restructuring of the bank has introduced changes from dependency on human resource to more reliance on technology and use of alternative delivery channels to service its clients, developments that have resulted in the job losses, according to the bank.
