By William Madouk
Juba High Court has denied UAP Insurance Company’s attempt to dismiss a case filed by former employees, citing insufficient grounds in the legal objection.
Presiding Judge, Francis Amum trashed the legal objection and affirmed the continuity of the court proceedings.
He further urged both advocates to present their evidence before the court could proceed with framing charges.
Addressing the media after adjournment, Marko Reech, the plaintiff’s lawyer stated that the court has scheduled a sitting for today, Thursday, October 31, 2024.
“Today, the preliminary objection in front of law, that was submitted by the defendant advocate is dismissed by the court,” Reech said.
“Now, the case is going to continue, and we are coming back tomorrow (today),” he added.
Advocate Reech explained that the UAP Insurance firm had asked the High Court to terminate the case since the Labor office already settled it a long time ago.
“The court said no, you did not prove it, you will come and prove it during the hearing,” he echoed.
Mr. Reech noted that they were asked by the judge to provide key missing information into the case such as employment contract, salary details and date of contract termination including the reasons.
“They were employed on different dates. So that is what the court is looking for, they are there, but we did not submit them,” he said.
“We were to submit them on the day of the hearing of the parties. This is where the party will say, I am employed on this day, and I was terminated in this day, and this is my document for the employment,” the lawyer added
When asked for the comment the defence lawyer, Gabriel Anyar declined and directed that the media should visit the UAP Insurance office for more details and interviews.
In September, the defence lawyer had tendered preliminary objection and comment on the lawsuit against his client – UAP management.
In his initial account, the lawyer presented two papers – one ordering reinstatement with another approving dismissal of staff authored by the Labor Office and asked the judge to dismiss the case.
However, the plaintiff’s lawyer for axed UAP national staff picked holes in UAP Insurance Company’s preliminary objection and comment in a pitting row between staff and the firm.
He cited that his statement contains a reply on what he terms as ‘contradictory documents’ that were submitted by defense lawyer and purportedly authored by Ministry of Labor.
When asked whether axed staff had received their benefits and the case was closed by Labor Ministry – he said these are ‘baseless’ claims, adding that his clients opted for court because labour docket did not resolve the matter.
In October last year, UAP and its national employees were in dispute over unequal treatment and differing wages for nationals compared to their foreign expatriate counterparts.
That forced about 70 national staff to stage a sit-in strike, bringing the UAP business to a standstill.
UAP Insurance firm dismissed at least ten national staff for calling for improved pay. This was contrary to the Ministry of Labor’s order calling for the reinstatement of 10 fired staff.
This, however, forced the UAP National Staff Association (UNSA) to initiate a legal case against the insurance firm.
Labor verdict
Luka Nyarsuk Nason, Chairman of the Labor Advisory Council, in a letter dated September 29, 2023, asked the UAP management to also put on hold all administrative measures taken against staff.
In October, the Ministry of Labor delivered a long-awaited verdict against the pitting brawl between the UAP insurance management and national staff over unfair treatment and salary structure.
Mary Hillary Wani, the undersecretary in the Ministry of Labor on the resolution of the dispute over UAP national staff grievances, directed the UAP firm to instantly reinstate 10 national employees who were axed.
According to the labour ministry, positions for UAP staff who are physically working in Kenya will be advertised and nationalized.
However, this outlet establishes that none of the Ministry of Labor’s verdicts had been implemented by the UAP Company.