Court awards former truck driver sh7.8m for unfair dismissal
Justice Anthony Wabwire Musana, together with panellists Adrine Namara, Susan Nabirye and Michael Matovu, held that Union Logistics Uganda's actions amounted to unlawful dismissal and rejected its claim that the driver had absconded from duty.
Court heard that Kiriggwajjo was employed by Union Logistics Uganda on July 17, 2013, as a truck driver earning a monthly salary of sh464,615. (File photo)
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The Industrial Court has awarded a former truck driver sh7.8m after finding that his employer, Union Logistics Uganda Limited, unfairly and unlawfully dismissed him from work.
The court declared that by ordering Said Kiriggwajjo to surrender his work tools and leave the company’s premises without following the disciplinary procedures required by law, Union Logistics Uganda acted unlawfully.
Justice Anthony Wabwire Musana, together with panellists Adrine Namara, Susan Nabirye and Michael Matovu, held that Union Logistics Uganda's actions amounted to unlawful dismissal and rejected its claim that the driver had absconded from duty.
The court awarded Kiriggwajjo sh1,805,554 as severance pay, sh464,615 in lieu of notice and sh5,575,380 in general damages, bringing the total award to sh7,845,549, plus costs of the suit.
Court heard that Kiriggwajjo was employed by Union Logistics Uganda on July 17, 2013, as a truck driver earning a monthly salary of sh464,615.
In April 2017, while transporting 120 drums of lubricants from Kampala to Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), two drums went missing after Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officials at the Luwero Weighbridge discovered that the truck’s seals had been broken.
The driver reported the incident to police, informed the company’s transport officer and cooperated with URA and the insurer before continuing with the journey after the seals were replaced.
According to Kiriggwajjo, upon returning to the company’s Kololo offices on May 6, 2017, he was instructed by the assistant transport manager, acting on the Human Resource Manager’s instructions, to surrender the truck keys, uniform, helmet, safety shoes and other company property before leaving the premises.
Kiriggwajjo said no reason was given for the directive and he considered it a verbal dismissal.
Kiriggwajjo testified that despite repeatedly seeking clarification, requesting a termination letter and a certificate of service, the company refused and instead advised him to resign and re-apply for his job, which he declined.
He sought over sh94.7m in terminal benefits and severance allowance, sh150m as compensation for loss of earnings, general and punitive damages, interest and costs.
Union Logistics Uganda denied dismissing Kiriggwajjo and maintained that he absconded from duty after the loss of the two drums of lubricants.
The company argued that after recording a statement regarding the missing cargo, Kiriggwajjo disappeared before investigations could be concluded, frustrating both internal disciplinary proceedings and the company’s insurance claim.
The firm's Human Resource Manager testified that the driver became unreachable despite several efforts to contact him and insisted that no termination letter was issued because his employment had never been terminated.
The company further maintained that Kiriggwajjo had received all his employment benefits, including annual leave and overtime, and prayed for dismissal of the claim.
Justice Musana said the central issue was whether the claimant had been dismissed or had voluntarily abandoned his employment.
The judge observed that there was no suspension letter, notice inviting the claimant to disciplinary proceedings or termination letter after the incident involving the missing lubricant drums.
Instead, the company required him to surrender the truck keys, uniform, helmet, safety shoes and other work equipment before directing him to leave.
The court held that by taking away the very tools the driver needed to perform his duties, the employer effectively denied him work.
“By asking him to surrender the truck keys, uniform, helmet, safety shoes and other company property, to remove his belongings, and leave without being given a reason, the respondent implicitly denied the claimant work,” the court ruled.
Justice Musana said industrial jurisprudence regards removal of an employee’s work tools as oppressive conduct capable of fundamentally breaching the employment relationship.
The judge found that once Kiriggwajjo surrendered the truck, keys and safety equipment, he could no longer perform the work for which he had been employed.
“As a driver without keys, uniform or truck, the claimant was left with a title in name, but no duty to claim. This means he could not drive, the duty he had been employed to do,” Justice Musana held.
The court also rejected Union Logistics’ argument that Kiriggwajjo absconded from duty.
The judge noted that although the company claimed it had unsuccessfully tried to contact the driver, it failed to produce call logs, letters, notices to show cause, invitations to disciplinary hearings or any documentary evidence demonstrating reasonable efforts to trace him.
The judge further observed that the employer’s witnesses acknowledged that the driver returned from the DRC assignment, reported the loss of lubricant drums to police and surrendered the vehicle at the company’s premises.
The court, therefore, found that the employer had failed to prove abscondment on a balance of probabilities.
Although Kiriggwajjo sought sh94.7m in terminal benefits and sh150m for loss of earnings, the court rejected both claims.
Justice Musana ruled that the claim for terminal benefits had not been specifically pleaded or proved because the claimant failed to particularise how the amount was calculated.
The court also declined to award compensation for future loss of earnings, holding that such claims are speculative under Ugandan employment law.
However, having found that the dismissal was both procedurally and substantively unfair, the court awarded the claimant one year’s salary, equivalent to sh5,575,380, as general damages, in addition to severance pay and one month’s salary in lieu of notice.
The court also ordered Union Logistics Uganda to pay the costs of the suit, citing the employer’s misconduct in removing the claimant’s work tools and failing to complete the disciplinary process.