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Before You Do This · Employment & HR
Grounds, process, notice, final entitlements and records - the four things that decide whether a termination is defensible or becomes a claim.
The situation: You have decided an employment relationship has to end
Terminations are rarely challenged on whether the employer was entitled to act. They are challenged on how the employer acted: what process was followed, what was documented, and what was paid on exit.
The National Industrial Court has developed a body of employment jurisprudence in Nigeria that takes fairness of process seriously. A decision that is substantively reasonable but procedurally careless is the common failure mode.
What the law is doing in this situation, and which instrument it sits under. These are general explanations, not an assessment of your circumstances.
Identify the real ground
Performance, misconduct, redundancy and the end of a fixed term are different routes with different requirements. Choosing the label that is administratively easiest, rather than the one that fits, is where most exposure begins.
Follow the contract and your own procedure
Whatever your disciplinary procedure says will be measured against what you actually did. Skipping your own written steps is difficult to defend, because you wrote them.
Notice and final pay are contractual duties
Notice, or payment in lieu where the contract allows it, accrued but untaken leave, and any outstanding statutory deductions all fall due. Withholding final pay as leverage in a dispute creates a second problem.
Labour Act, Cap L1 LFN 2004
Redundancy is a distinct process
Where a role genuinely ceases, the questions are selection, consultation and treatment on exit - not conduct. Dressing a performance dismissal as redundancy tends to unravel in evidence.
Document as it happens
Notes made at the time carry weight; reconstructions made after a claim do not. Warnings, meetings, responses and the decision itself should be recorded contemporaneously.
Handle the exit practically
Access revocation, return of property, handover, confidentiality reminders and what will be said in a reference. These reduce the second-order risks - data, IP and reputation.
These are ordinary and usually well-intentioned. That is exactly why they are worth naming.
None of these is proof of bad faith on its own. Two or three together is a reason to slow down.
Work through these before you commit. They are educational prompts, not a compliance certification.
When to speak to a lawyer