Stuck Without Pay in Nigeria: Can I Resign Without Legal Trouble? How to Get My Salary?

Hi, I have been working as a BDM in a training company. My work location is Nigeria, but my company is India-based. I have not received my salary for more than three months. I signed a 2-year bond before traveling to Nigeria. If I resign due to non-payment of salary, could they file a case against me? What should I do to receive my salary?

Regards.

Are you an Indian national or a Nigerian national? What are the terms of your employment? What percentage of your salary is linked to business development? Were you able to achieve your business targets? What kind of training company is this?

From where were you issued the appointment letter? Was it from their office in Nigeria or the headquarters in India? If it is the latter, then find out the address of the labor office under whose jurisdiction their headquarters falls. Try contacting the Labor Officer.

Anyway, please send me an invite on Skype. We can discuss something else. My Skype ID is <dineshvasantdivekar>.

Additional Feedback

You could have written your post in a more professional manner. Furthermore, you have written the post in all block capital letters. I am a little surprised that the owner of the training company has not taught you that when writing letters or posts in a public forum, you should not write in block capital letters. It is against business etiquette and is considered as yelling.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Employer's Failure to Pay Salary and Employee's Rights

If the employer fails to fulfill their material part of the contractual obligation by not paying the salary, the employee is not liable to give notice or observe bond liabilities because the employer has repudiated the contract. However, the damages for liabilities still survive and can be recovered. You can rescind the contract by giving notice on account of non-payment of salary by the employer.

Reference may be made to the Apex Court decision in Union of India v Kishorilal, decided on 21.5.1959. You may recover salary through an inspector under the Payment of Wages Act if your salary is less than Rs. 18,000 or under labor laws if you are a workman, or through the laws of Nigeria.

Thanks,
Sushil

You must post the details as asked by Mr. Dinesh Divekar. Post regular reminders and highlight that you were assured your salary would be paid on the specified date each month and that you are facing hardships due to the non-payment of your earned wages. Demand that salary slips and salary be supplied immediately, say, within the next three days.

The earned wages have to be paid even if some targets were assigned but not achieved. You may post the relevant extracts from the appointment letter.

Non-payment of wages would render the employer unworthy of being employed with, and it can amount to a breach of trust, fraud, forgery, etc.

Kindly contact the Indian Embassy in Abuja and inform them that you have not been receiving your salary. Quite a few Indian companies have resorted to not paying salaries in Nigeria. In fact, the Ministry of Home Affairs releases a blacklist of employers abroad who are known to default on salaries and alerts prospective employees from joining them. The saddest part is that all the companies on the list in Nigeria are Indian, with Delta Steel heading the list. In fact, a few employees were even evacuated from Delta Steel, and a case was filed by the government in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on behalf of the employees, and all dues were then paid for those who were evacuated. Those who did not complain are still languishing in Delta State without receiving their salaries.

The Nigerian government has now issued a notice to take back the privatized Delta Steel from the Indians to safeguard the interests of Nigerian employees who also have not received their salaries.

There is an officer in the Indian Embassy in Abuja who takes up this issue with the employer, and if the employer does not pay, then automatically, the company gets added to the blacklist. In case you leave the company, this complaint with the embassy duly acknowledged will prove that the employer abandoned you in a foreign country. Since you desire to leave, it's better that you complain to the embassy and keep it on record.

In continuation of my previous post, I wish to add further course of action. I happened to see your thread and found that your company is based in Bangalore. If so, under the Karnataka Shops and Establishment Act, the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act are applicable for unpaid wages. It is assumed that you were sent by your employer on deputation to Nigeria. Then the present employer should be treated as the principal employer liable for payment of your unpaid wages in Nigeria. Approach the inspector under the Karnataka Shops and Establishment Act to get the unpaid wages by representing him, enclosing your appointment letter and deputation letter to establish the liability of the establishment here.

As stated by me in today's post relating to a thread titled "Full and Final Settlement," your company is covered under the term "establishment" defined under the Act. Request the inspector under the Karnataka Shops and Establishment Act for getting your settlement of dues. It is his duty to get those unpaid wages.

Provisions of the Karnataka Shops and Establishment Act

Under section 21 of the Karnataka Shops and Establishment Act, the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act apply regardless of the limit of Rs.18,000/- of wages because subsection (1) of section 21 starts with a non-obstante clause saying "Notwithstanding anything contained in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936...". Moreover, the inspector appointed under the Shops and Establishment Act is empowered to implement the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act.

Thanks

Regards,
Sushil