DISMISSAL AND TERMINATION OF CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA

The relationship betwecn an employer and his employee is taken as regulated by the individual contract of employment. Vital aspects of that contract remain supposedly agreed by the parties without interference based on the common law rule that parties are free to enter into contracts, including contract of employment. Unfortunately, the doctrine of freedom of contract did not consider parties, who for economic, social and even political reasons are in such weak position that hardly can there be said to be any bargaining power’. This manifests in employment situations. Besides, the common law views the relationship in contract of employment as that of master and servant relationship. This has often placed the employer at a vantage position that makes him always feel that any worker's employment can be terminated at will. This paper will therefore, appraise the operational scope of dismissal and termination of contract of employment in Nigeria, showing the guidelines and their limits under our law. We shall proceed from here with the definitions of \"dismissal\" and \"termination\" of contract of employment.