GTBank in ‘duel’ with former employee over D500,000 wrongful termination claim

Lamin Jahateh, Banjul Guaranty Trust Bank has continued to contest a D500,000 claim by its former employee Mam Nabou Sambou, who has sued the bank to court for wrongful termination of her services. Mam-Nabou Samba, who was contracted to work for GTBank as transaction officer, is claiming special damages of D500,000 general damages for breach of contract, interest, and cost. The ongoing trial between the plaintiff and the defendant proceeded on 7 February at the Industrial Tribunal in the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Dayoh Small Dago with the testimony of one Neneh Njie, a bank official at GTBank. Asked by the defence lawyer Christopher C.E. Mene to explain when and how appraisal are done in the bank, since on the evidence of the plaintiff, her immediate boss is responsible for her appraisal; Neneh Njie, who claimed to be the immediate boss of the plaintiff, denied the point, saying that in GTB, appraisals are done every June by members of the bank. “It is a process and in that process the appraisee, appraiser, a group head, MD, and an appraisal committee are involved,” Mrs Njie said, adding: “In this process, my recommendation is not the final stage but part of the process.” At that juncture, reports were tendered by the defence to the witness to confirm whether they were the appraisal reports on the plaintiff, but Ms Njie said she would not call those reports appraisal reports since some of the exhibits were not complete. The report on exhibit H, she said, stopped only at where she made her comments on her own evaluation of the plaintiff’s performance but had not covered up to where the final stage would end. After the evidence of the witness, the case was adjourned until 15 February 2011. Guaranty Trust Bank, through its Orange Rules, is committed to the growth of the individual and societal capital, the bank’s corporate statement states, saying the rules include simplicity, professionalism, service, friendliness, excellence, trustworthiness, social responsibility and innovation.