LEGAL PRINCIPLE: LABOUR LAW — Termination of Employment — Effect of Termination on Employer-Employee Relationship
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
When an employer terminates a contract of employment, the employee ceases to be in employment. The employee's subsisting rights, if any, are to claim terminal benefits as provided in the contract. The employee cannot keep alive a contract that has been determined by the employer.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Oguntade, JSC, in Jombo v. Petroleum Equalisation Fund & Ors (2005) NLC-182001(SC) at pp. 14–15; Paras E–A.
"It seems to me that when an employer brings the contract of employment to an end by terminating it, the employee effectively ceases to be in the employment and his subsisting rights, if any, are to make a claim for the terminal benefits as provided in the contract of employment. The employee could not at his option keep alive a contract of employment, which has been determined by the employer."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Termination ends employment; employee cannot keep contract alive. Remedy is terminal benefits claim. The principle applies to labour law.