400 ex-staff of Diamond Bank decry unpaid severance packages

More than 400 staff, recently disengaged by the Diamond Bank, have decried the non-payment of their severance packages after the sudden termination of their appointments.

But the Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie, however, alluded that the sacked workers, might not, after all, be entitled to any compensation.

Speaking in Kaduna, weekend, they urged the bank not to differ from others who have settled the severance pay of their terminated workers, in line with the labour laws on redundancy.

The ex-staff lamented that the bank attempted to make them appear unemployable by allegedly claiming that they were disengaged for reason of non-performance, contrary to their good/excellent performance rating in their appraisals.

The spokesman of the sacked workers, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said: “Diamond Bank is not the only bank that sacked its staff recently but it is the only bank that is refusing to pay its former workers their severance pay after terminating their appointments unannounced.

“Diamond Bank should stop peddling falsehood. If they are sacking because of economic reasons, they should say so and settle entitlements of those sacked.

“That was what other banks did. We will engage all means within the law to ensure that the bank does not get away with this illegality.”

About 400 people were sacked by the bank, he claimed.

The spokesman alleged that the bank has pushed its accounts into debit, suspended visa cards and threatened workers to pay any money owed it as a result of the upfront allowances paid them in January/February.

When contacted, the Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie, said: “I cannot talk to you because I cannot verify who you are. But if you read their contract, you will know if they were to be paid remuneration or not.”