By Yankuba Jallow
Forty-four former employees of the Sou Hung Enterprise, contracted to build the Basse Bridge, have sued the company for not paying them.
The 44 plaintiffs were drivers, welder men, operators and others who work in different areas (also known as liver).
The 44 claimants in their statement of case said they were all employees of the Chinese company and were asked to stay at home owing to Covid-19.
They said they were placed on monthly salary at the company, but when Covid-19 came, the company asked them to stay at home.
“We were staying at home without receiving any payments,” Sateneng Sidibeh, the first prosecution witness told the court.
The workers want the company to pay them the time they have been staying at home. The Department of Labour wrote to the company to pay their labourers six months of redundancy and six months of notice.
The workers said their termination came following their request for employment contract which did not go down well with the company. They informed the court that the company has no hired new people in their place resulting in the termination of the employment without notice.
The case will be coming on 1st July 2021.
