By ANTHONY MULOWA-
MORE than 230 former BP Zambia Plc workers have won a case in the Supreme Court in which they had sued their former employer over unpaid pension contributions amounting to K18,215,314,116.00 (unrebased).
A panel of three judges comprising retired acting Deputy Chief Justice Florence Mumba, Munyinda Wanki and Elizabeth Muyovwe has since ordered that Expendito Chipalo and 235 others be awarded interest rate of 40 per cent from the date of separation up to the date of the High Court judgment on October 2010.
The Supreme Court has further ordered that the former employees should be given 25 per cent up to the date of payment of the money.
It further ordered BP Zambia to bear costs for the proceedings both in the High court and the Supreme Court following the appeal against the decision of the High Court which was in favour of the employees.
The employees were declared redundant by BP Zambia between 1993 and 1999 and their employment was effectively terminated.
They were later paid their retirement package but were not paid the pension contributions made by the company to two different pension schemes.
BP had claimed that the workers had exercised their option to receive their own contributions and that as such, they were not entitled to the company’s contribution.
The workers around 2002 sued their former employers in the Lusaka High Court.
They claimed, among others things, K18, 215, 314,116.00 as accrued value of pension from their membership of the BP Zambia Pension Scheme, and damages or equitable compensation for negligence leading to loss of their pension benefits.
They also wanted an account of the sum of K720, 056, 600.43 paid out of the pension scheme fund to BP Zambia by Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC) on or about January 31, 1995 and interest.
In 2010, the High Court passed judgment in their favour and ordered BP to submit an account of the true value of the pension contributions from both employee and employer to be rendered to each of the 236 former workers.
It also ordered for an account of the transfer value of the K720, 056, 600.00 to be paid to BP Zambia by ZSIC, the manager of the scheme.
But BP Zambia was not satisfied with the decision of the High Court and appealed to the Supreme Court on grounds that the High Court erred both in law and fact when it held that the 236 were entitled to the relief they were claiming.
The company argued that the employees, who were retrenched in 1993 and 1999, belonged to different pension schemes and could not all benefit from the company’s ZSIC scheme.
But in its judgment, the Supreme Court noted that it was clear from the evidence that there was only one type of respondent and all were employees of BP Zambia.
It said the only difference was in the dates when they were declared redundant, adding that there were no two pension funds but that what was in place were different pension fund managers.
The panel said that the scheme was established to benefit the members and that because they contributed the money to the pension scheme, they had a right to know what exactly was due to them under the pension scheme at the time of separation.
It held that the High Court could not be faulted for entering judgment in favour of the 236 former workers.
Mr Chipalo welcomed the judgment although it had taken long.
He urged the Government to learn from the judgment and enact laws that would in future protect pensioners.