The Industrial Relations Court (IRC) in Blantyre has ordered Press Corporation Limited (PCL) to compensate three former top executives for unlawful dismissal and unfair labour practices.
The applicants are former PCL chief executive officer George Partridge, former company secretary Bernard Ndau and former group financial controller Elizabeth Mafeni.
In a ruling delivered yesterday, IRC deputy chairperson Tamanda Nyimba found that the PCL Board, among others, claimed that the applicants’ salaries were too high, yet a few months before their retrenchment. the same board had raised the salaries.
“The applicants’ claim for compensation for unfair and unlawful dismissal and damages for unfair labour practices are well founded. The parties are at liberty to agree on appropriate compensation out of court,” said Nyimba.
According to the ruling, if an out-of-court settlement cannot be reached, the court will preside over a hearing to assess compensation.
Mafeni, Ndau and Partridge were dismissed in 2021 following a functional review initiated by the PCL Board and conducted by a consultant.
However, the three argued that the consultant never consulted them and that the process was initiated after the board abandoned discussions with Ndau and Mafeni to change their employment status from permanent to fixed term contracts.
Nyimba found that while consultations were supposed to be done during the functional review, the applicants were never consulted and only completed a basic form which could be described as a part of data collection.
The IRC deputy chairperson also faulted PCL Board for dismissing the three based on the functional review report without offering them options for lower salaries or redeployment to lower positions at PCL or its subsidiaries.
Nyimba further ruled that PCL wrongfully deducted about K15 million from Mafeni’s severance allowance and ordered that the amount be paid to the claimant with interest.
He, however, dismissed PCL’s counter-claim of more than K200 million from Mafeni’s severance pay made on the basis that she was overpaid.
In an interview, the applicants’ lawyer John Suzi-Banda said the two parties will discuss the compensation but highlighted that it is a secondary matter for his clients.
He said: “What is important is that they have been vindicated as they have always felt that they were unfairly treated by their employer.
“When they were dismissed, there were allegations that they were overpaying themselves but the court has said the remuneration was set by the board itself.”
On his part, PCL lawyer Patrick Mpaka said they will review the 99-page judgement and decide on the way forward.
The three applicants dragged PCL to court after they were dismissed by word of mouth on December 10 2021 before they received letters of termination on January 7 2022.
PCL is the largest conglomerate in Malawi and has interests in banking, telecommunications, energy, real estate and hospitality.
