Accentuating the inherent precarious nature of the remedy of reinstatement in employer-employee relationships

摘要

Maslow (1954), in his masterpiece treatise, fashioned the hierarchy of needs, namely physiological, safety, belongings, esteem and self-actualization needs. He was of the opinion that on fulfilling one stage substantially, an individual aspires and is only motivated by the attributes of the next stage. In Nigeria, most of the population oscillates between the first and the second level. People work in order to live, that is, to satisfy needs and wants. Work is essentially an important socio-economic issue, that is, if individuals in the productive year are employed at all. According to the 2012 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, the official figure of unemployment in the country was an unprecedented and understated rate of 23.9% in 2011. This translates to about 41 million unemployed persons, without taking into consideration the under-employed. If a member of a family who was employed is retrenched, this will have reverberating effect on the family and the larger community as a whole. This is due to the extended family ties system, where there is no provision of any form of welfare in the majority of the African countries. This paper examines and exposes how employers are wrongfully dismissing their vulnerable employees unfairly in the work place. The paper highlights the possible remedies available to the employees in cases of wrongful, unfair dismissals or termination of appointment.