Dear Colleagues and folks,
Recall the National Industrial Court of Nigeria’s Judgement prohibiting employers from coercing existing or prospective employees to undergo HIV testing and that dismissing employees on the basis of their perceived or actual HIV-status is unlawful and discriminatory. Recall also the court awarded monetary damages to the total sum of 4,200,000NGN (11,500USD). This followed a suit by Mr. X. who was dismissed on account of his HIV status. Lawyers Alert filed and prosecuted the matter on his behalf. The judgement can be found here.
Lawyers Alert alongside Mr. X met severally with the employers and their lawyers towards negotiating an agreed judgement sum so as to bar an appeal alongside the expected time the appeal would have been disposed of. An appeal can take several years.
Lawyers Alert is happy to announce that last week, we received an inflow for the judgement sum negotiated at 3,000,000NGN (8,400USD) on behalf of Mr. X. Mr. X. was in our office on Saturday 30th March 2019 to receive from Lawyers Alert a cheque in the total sum of 3,000,000NGN representing the entire judgement sum as paid.
Lawyers Alert acknowledges with deep appreciation Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), and everyone that contributed in one way or another towards justice for Mr. X. and the judgement which prohibits employers from coercing existing or prospective employees to undergo HIV testing and that dismissing employees on the basis of their perceived or actual HIV-status is unlawful and discriminatory.
We acknowledge Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), Enda Sante, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Nigeria, AIDS Health Foundation (AHF), National Agency for the Control of AIDS, United Nations Development Programme, International Labour Organization (ILO), Coalition of Lawyers for Human Rights (COLaHR), Network of Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Nigeria Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV/AIDS (NINERELA+), Association of Positive youth living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (APYIN), Society of Women and Children Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (SOWCHAN), Association of Women Living With HIV/AIDS (ASWHAN) in Nigeria and other Human Rights Activists.
A picture of Mr. X. collecting his cheque can be found here and a video of his experience can be found here.
Thank you.
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