JAMES BAIDEN & OTHERS vs. GRAPHIC CORPORATION

The appellants were former employees of the respondent, Graphic Corporation, whose conditions of service were governed by a collective agreement. Section 28.04 of that agreement provided for end-of-service awards. In December 1990, during the PNDC era, government directed public corporations and state organisations to freeze end-of-service benefits and negotiate arrangements for payment of benefits accrued up to 31 December 1990. Following negotiations, 40% of accrued benefits was paid and 60% was held over and later paid on termination of employment in 1993. On 29 October 1993, the appellants and others were laid off in a redundancy exercise. They also received severance awards and provident fund payments. The dispute arose because the appellants claimed they were entitled to end-of-service awards calculated up to the date of termination in 1993 under section 28.04 of the collective agreement, rather than only up to 31 December 1990 under the freeze arrangement. Portion indicating facts: opening paragraphs of Atuguba JSC’s judgment beginning, “The appellants were the employees of the respondent Graphic Corporation…” through “…they were paid severance awards and their provident fund contributions…”.