Note: This is a case based on real happenings. The identities (and description) of the characters and the Company has been changed for confidentiality purposes.
Ivie is your go-to kind of employee for business development. She is great on her job and she knows it.
Ivie worked for a luxury retail furniture company called Woods and Comfy (W&C) before she got fired.
Woods and Comfy (W&C) is the leading furniture brand in the southern part of Nigeria. W&C has grown their annual revenue from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions since its inception in 2010. Their note-able revenue surge occurring between their financial years; 2012 and 2013.
Ivie was very instrumental to that surge. Her business contributions amassing a high concentration of 47% of the total revenue during the period. Ivie was one of five business development executives at the time.
W&C would go on to assign major potential clients to Ivie. She always lived up to the expectation.
Within the next financial year 2013-2014, W&C had expanded into two major cities of the southern region. Business seemed good for the time.
But at the end of the 2015 financial year, W&C had recorded its first and major loss. Recurring again in 2016, their operations had now reduced. They managed to stay in using their revenue reserve.
By that time, Ivie had gotten into a side hustle in real estate. W&C hadn’t paid bonuses in a while and salaries were delayed. The cost of living at the time had soared. W&C was struggling to survive, and so was Ivie.
By June, 2016, Ivie had gotten a hold on her side hustle. During her less busy hours, she would follow-up with leads and send out marketing emails.
On the 26th of June, 2016, the Managing Director of W&C received an email from a personal account of Ivie. It was a marketing letter Ivie had sent in error to him (the Managing Director).
Ivie’s presence was immediately summoned by the Managing Director. She explained how that she sent the email in error and did so during break hours. The MD sent her out of his office in displeasure while instructing Human Resources to issue Ivie a one- time warning letter instructing her to desist from such activity on the job.
In the the next five months Ivie was in for more than a “one-time warning letter”. She received over and over again queries and summons about her declining figures in the past months. Ivie always responded on each occasion that she was summoned, that although her figures had declined, she still was the top performer of her team and that the poor results are by no intentional act of hers.
This went on so much that Ivie turned in her resignation. Human Resources by the instruction of the Managing Director responded to Ivie’s notice with an immediate termination with salary earned up till date. Ivie read in the termination letter that she was let go on the grounds of unethical behavior and intentional sabotage of her performance.
Ivie disputed these reasons, requesting her performance records from the last one year till date be released. Human Resources released her performance but for the last five months (since the last performance review). Ivie noticed that there was no match between the HR’s record and her personal records. By reason of this Ivie could not lay claim to her accumulated bonuses (as her personal record had shown). So Ivie left the Company up in arms by the end of November that year.
A few years later, Ivie applied to another job but losing out of the recruitment for getting a bad recommendation from her previous employer (W&C) during the background check routine. This one Ivie is choosing to not neglect and is considering suing Woods and Comfy for defamation and unfair dismissal.
Question: Should Ivie sue Woods & Comfy?
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