The diligent innocent women still do the ladder climb, hose handling and squirt water to quench fire, but may lose the fight for a well-deserving compensation.
A GNA feature by Christiana Afua Nyarko
Accra, Oct 24, GNA – Forty-one-year-old Thelma Hammond’s family life before the year 2011 was peaceful and quiet until the fateful day of 14th June 2011.
It was a day the mother of five can never erase from her memory.
She received a letter of dismissal, then aged 36 years, from her bosses at the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) for being pregnant.
Her employer wrote that she had flouted regulation 33(6) which forbade female fire officers to become pregnant within the first three years of their appointment.
“When I started working and receiving monthly salary, everything moved smoothly in my home. I never minded cooking and taking care of the family with my salary even if my husband could not provide.”
Just like Thelma, the life of Grace Fosu was that of a happy wife and a mother, who had a child before recruitment into the GNFS.
The now 38-year-old, worked from 21st July 2012, but she was dismissed on the 10th of September 2014. Grace was pregnant, and her dismissal came a year after Thelma’s.
“I was still reporting for duty with the pregnancy until I was called to the headquarters and informed alongside my husband that, I have been dismissed from the service for breaching the regulation, by getting pregnant earlier than the stipulated time.
“The call to come for my dismissal letter came when I was in Labour. ”Grace recounted with a shaky voice at her home in Dansoman Russia, a suburb in Accra.
The dismissal affected the finances of the two female officers and ruined their marriages.
Thelma was living in her husband’s family house during the period of the dismissal. She alleged that she suffered domestic emotional, verbal and physical abuse.
She resorted to odd jobs, including selling sachet water in traffic and phone recharge cards to make ends meet.
Grace, on the other hand, took consolation in her young child, but, that was short-lived. She claims that after five years of losing her job, her husband ignored her and her needs.
The two women told a tale of sufferings, despair and depression.
Empowered by a senior fire service personnel now on retirement, Assistant Divisional Officer (ADO 1) Lawrence Lamptey Akrong, they pursued justice.
Their first point of call was the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
With CHRAJ’s help, Grace and Thelma in 2017, filed a suit against the GNFS at the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court.
After several back and forth, the ladies received a favourable ruling in 2018.
The presiding judge, Justice Anthony Yeboah, ruled that their dismissal was unconstitutional and an institutional onslaught on their fundamental human rights (that, is their right to work, family and freedom from discrimination).
Their case attracted both national and international headlines; earning it a place as the first successful gender discrimination case in the annals of the county’s justice system.
The ruling, which marked a positive progress of women’s rights in the country, also rendered the GNFS regulation 33 clause 6 an affront to the country’s parent law, the 1992 Constitution, the Labour Act of 2003 (Act 651) and other numerous conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) ratified by Ghana.
The case was not just a win for Thelma and Grace but, for Ghanaian women, including those in the security services.
The Court also ordered Grace and Thelma’s reinstatement, the payment of all salaries and bonuses lost during the dismissal period and a compensation package of 50,000 cedis each.
The victory brought much relief and joy not only to the two women, but to their families too.
“It was a marathon of tears filled with joy. When you saw us back then with the kind of dressing, we took to court on that day of the ruling, one could even question whether we even deserved the results of ruling. It took time for us to even process the part of the ruling that ordered our reinstatement.”Thelma recounted with her face which glowing with a smile.
“I was very happy. I really cried after the ruling because I lost my parents as a result of the dismissal. Even my friends abandoned me. That ruling though revived my soul still brought sad memories about my parents, particularly my mother whose death was connected to it.”Grace explained.
“It was at that time that I came to release the peculiar strength and power behind money and how that could change people’s attitude and demeanour towards you. I also realised how valuable a woman can be in the eyes of a man when you dependent, financially, ” she added.
Today, Grace and Thelma are back to work as firewomen.
“CHRAJ gave us a lot of assistance. They were like our guardian angels. We would have been unemployed and suffering if it was not for their intervention. I believe it was the hand of God which led them to help ur pursue our cause…it made us realise our worth and how the law was on our side as women. ”Thelma narrated as she switched from tears to a smile.
Drawing from their experiences, the women advised their gender compatriots faced with similar situations to seek legal redress.
“Our predicament highlighted the many struggles and threats faced by women in the workplace. This case made me realise how vulnerable I can be as a woman, hence the need for us to run to the law if faced with situations that threaten our rights and wellbeing.
“I encourage women wherever they work to resort to the law if threatened with a similar fate because the law has power to free you from unfortunate situations like ours.”Thelma insisted.
Grace, on the other hand, advised men, particularly husbands to console, be considerate and support their wives who loose livelihoods or jobs because of pregnancy and childbirth, not to ignore, shun or deprive them of their needs.
The compensation ordered by the Court has not been paid yet and they have appealed to CHRAJ to assist them in that regard to bring closure to the case.
“We entreat CHRAJ to help us get the compensation package paid to us, ” the two pleaded.
Legal protection for employment rights of expectant and nursing mothers
Ghana’s Constitution in Article 17 clause 1 and 2 states: “All persons shall be equal before the law and that, a person shall not be discriminated against on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social or economic status.
The above provision affirms gender parity before the law, further frowning on discrimination of any kind.
The Labour Act of 2003 (Acts 651) in Sections 55, 56 and 57 clearly dictate how pregnant women and nursing mothers should be treated at the place of work with respect to workload, environment, time and remuneration.
An employer shall not assign or employ a pregnant woman worker to do any night work between the hours of ten o’clock in the evening and seven o’clock in the morning.
It also prohibits any form of overtime for a pregnant woman worker or a mother of a child of less than eight months old except the individual expressly consents to it.
Section 56 addresses the prohibition of assignment of pregnant female workers. It states how employers should not assign; whether permanently or temporarily, a pregnant female worker to a post outside her place of residence after the completion of the fourth month of pregnancy, if the assignment, in the opinion of a medical practitioner or midwife, is detrimental to the health of the female worker in question.
Section 57 of the labour Act of 2003, addresses the issues of Maternity, Annual and Sick Leave.
These and many other relevant legislations found expression in the elucidating judgment delivered by the Accra High Court in 2018.
Ghana ratified ILO Convention C089 of 1948 which deals with Night work for women in July 1959 and the Maternity Protection Convention 103 of 1952 in 1986.
By these legal frameworks, the right to work and family is protected by law.
The labour expert’s perspective
Mr. Austin Gamey, a Human Resource and Labour Consultant, commenting on the delayed compensation for Grace Fosu and Thelma Hammond, noted how employers in the public sector and some in the private sector “don’t have the human resource capacity to understand the values that the law upholds and consequentially the ruling of the court” hence was not surprised that the opportunity of payment has been so long delayed.
He however, stated that, the issue needed to be revisited. “What can be done is that, we have to take up this matter. As a mediator and HR Consultant, we will make a voluntary appeal to the highest hierarchy of the fire service without charging the ladies to make them know our solidarity with the women and issue a demand for payment plus interest because the money has a certain value from the time of the ruling till date, so there will have to be a negotiation and agreement on a certain valuation so they can be paid.
They will have to give a payment plan and insist that they pay. If not, then we send them to the labour commission, ”he suggested.
The Labour expert, said it was not just discriminatory but, uncivilised and insensitive to terminate the employment of a woman for being pregnancy.
He said the Legislative Instrument 1833 of 2007 provided guidelines for redundancy implementation on pregnant or working nursing females.
“Women are the only source of production therefore anything to denigrate and minimise their value is adversarial to their sensibilities, the constitution and laws of Ghana. So clearly no employer is expected to even attempt to discriminate against a female because it is observed or alleged that the person has taken seed either before applying for the job or soon after gaining the employment.
“It is uncivilised for any employer to attempt to make a woman suffer this kind of trouble, ”he stated.
He encouraged working females in both public and private sectors to file written complaints to the Labour Commission for redress, should they suffer a similar fate as employees.
“As an employer, if you identify that the female worker you have hired, within about six months, after a year is pregnant and because of that you want to terminate their employment, it is discriminatory, it is unreasonable…there’s nothing preventing such a woman from being employed that is why the labour law made it possible to create a National Labour Commission to enable such female workers to report to them for resolution.
“They can also go to other bodies like CHRAJ, a private mediator, adjudicator or the courts…”, he said.
Compensation under contention
The Ghana News Agency, inquired from the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) why the compensation delayed.
A lawyer at CHRAJ who has knowledge of the case, who did not want to be identified, disclosed in a phone call that, the state through the Attorney General, is in court to possibly overturn the earlier ruling to pay the package to Grace and Thelma.
The lawyer further explained that, the situation arose from the fact that, the state through the court, having facilitated the reinstatement, promotion, payment of salaries and benefits lost, did not deem it necessary to pay the compensation, hence have initiated a move to overturn the earlier court ruling.
Thelma and Grace still have some mountains to climb in their long walk to justice.
Even the State is not convinced of their right to the compensation which they need to feel human again.
The diligent innocent women still do the ladder climb, hose handling and squirt water to quench fire, but may lose the fight for a well-deserving compensation.
GNA