Court rules against Ghana Commercial Bank in seven-years battle

At the climax of a seven-year-long battle between the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and its employees over pension entitlements, the Appeals Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that the GCB apply its internal mechanisms to pay the percentage of the pensioners. The ruling is expected to bring to an end the use of technicalities by GCB to keep litigating with its former employees as to what they deserve or do not deserve.

The three-member panel Appeal Court, presided over by Justice S.A. Brobbey, nullified a phraseology contained in a previous ruling of an Accra High Court to peg the pensioners benefits at 50 per cent and maintained that the basic salary is to be applied only to the period before the introduction of the consolidated funds: that is, 1 December 1992.

The subject of litigation between the pensioners and the GCB is that on 27 February 1987, the Board of Directors of the GCB accepted the retired workers? proposals and approved new pensions based on the civil servants pension pf 70 per cent of the existing basic salary.

Again the Board of Directors was reported to have agreed to pay retired workers 70 per cent of the salary of those still in active service anytime the basic salaries of those in service were increased, which was also going to be based on the position at which the pensioner retired. GCB was said to have started implementing this policy until it unilaterally abrogated the exercise 1989.

That was the beginning of the litigation. The pensioners wanted the agreement restored to the 70 per cent instead of the 15 per cent that they being paid. They initiated the first legal action at the Tema High Court in 1995 with judgment going in their favour. The GCB then fired an appeal at the Appeal Court from where the matter was again referred to the Tema High Court for some legal clarifications.

On 22 February 1999, a judgment was again entered in favour of the pensioners. Not satisfied, GCB used some technicalities to justify why they should go back to an Accra High Court. The pensioners, to justify their demand for the 70 per cent of the basic salary, roped in the issue of consolidated salaries. This stemmed from the fact that following the consolidation of salaries, civil servants are supposed to take home not more than 50 per cent of their salaries as pension.

On 20 December this year, as part of the High Court ruling GCB was to pay each of its ex-staff pension based on the new consolidated salary with effect from 1 December 1992 pegged at 50 per cent of salary base. Thus, the saga found its way back to the Court of Appeal, following a 29 May 2002 ruling in the mater of ?The Republic verses the Court of Appeal.?

In the Court of Appeal ruling on Thursday, the three-member panel ruled, by unanimous decision, the appeal succeeded in part and failed in part. The evidence of the Controller and Accountant General which suffered civil servants to take home not more than 50 per cent of their salaries cannot be applied to the pensioners, Justice Brobby said. He went on, ?The 50 per cent decreed by the trial judge cannot be enforced and should be set aside, the parties are to apply the internal mechanism which exists in the bank to settle the percentage of computing the pensions.?

He further stated that the failure of the appeal so far means that the basic salary is to be applied only up to the period before the introduction of the consolidated fund. Meanwhile, the panel directed that both applicants and defendant?s counsel work to determine the percentage at which the GCB is to peg the pensioners? benefit under the new consolidated salaries.