They made the call at the 2014 Punuka Annual Lecture, organised by Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors, a law firm in Lagos, with the theme: “Employee and Pension Claims in Insolvency’’.
They said that the existing laws did not provide adequate protection for employees in a situation where a company becomes bankrupt.
Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, the Managing Partner of Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors, said there had been continuous economic pressure over the last decade.
According to him, the pressure had forced several companies to go into various forms of restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, business re-organisation, receivership and liquidation.
Idigbe recalled that several issues then arose as to the various claims available to workers, like outstanding salaries, severance pay, health and disability benefits, pension benefits, and sundry entitlements.
He said these, alongside other claims by stakeholders and creditors with different legal and socioeconomic considerations, were to be borne in mind in the event of insolvency of such enterprises.
Idigbe noted that in 2000, the World Bank called for a special treatment of employee claims during insolvency, stressing that workers were a vital part of any enterprise.
He, therefore, suggested that a careful consideration should be given in balancing the rights of employees with those of other creditors.
Also speaking, Prof. Andre Boraine, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, said there was need for a review of labour to cater for the interest of employees.
He said that the labour movement in South Africa played a major role in law reforms, in relation to the improvement of employee situations in the event of insolvency.
Boraine noted that the rights of workers could easily be abused, where there was no proper statutory regulation protecting them.
He, therefore, recommended that labour laws should contain some protection for employees and their claims, in situations of insolvency.
A labour expert, Prof. Chioma Agomo, of the University of Lagos, stressed the need for a legal provision on the insurance of workers’ entitlements in the event that the company wounds up.
She said it was necessary to insure the salaries and wages of workers, so that such workers would be paid their remuneration, whether or not the company was solvent.
Rev. Folorunso Oginni, Chairman, Lagos Branch of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), called for the review of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) Act.
He said there were discrepancies in the settlement of pension claims which needed to be harmonised by a review.
Ogini said such lacunas must be address in order to make provisions for workers who were retired but cannot have access to their money.
The lecture was chaired by Retired Justice George Oguntade. (NAN)
