JOSEPH OLUBUNMI KAYODE OYEWOLE, JCA (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is in respect of an appeal against the decision of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division, sitting in Abuja, delivered on the 16th December, 2016 by M. N. ESOWE, J.
The Respondent who was an employee of the Appellant voluntarily disengaged his services expecting the Appellant to deduct his indebtedness from his final entitlements. However, the final entitlements of the Respondent as calculated by the Appellant was insufficient to offset the Respondent’s indebtedness upon which the Appellant engaged the services of debt recovery agents to recover the balance. Believing that the Appellant was trying to shortchange him, the Respondent approached the trial court and sought the following reliefs:
A. A declaration that there existed a contract of employment between the Claimant and the Defendant and that all terms and condition of the said contract is properly documented in a document titled…