Wakilii

African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) v Kityaba (Civil Appeal No. 124 of 2017)

Court of Appeal · [2020] UGCA 2083 · 2020 Application Granted ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Correction of errors in a delivered Court of Appeal judgment under Rule 36(1), on the court's own motion and following the respondent's application
Decision
Errors in the Court of Appeal judgment of 22 October 2019 corrected on the court's own motion; Industrial Court awards on severance, aggravated damages and gratuity affirmed

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Holding

On its own motion under Rule 36(1) of the Rules of the Court of Appeal, the court corrected several accidental slips in its judgment of 22 October 2019, which arose largely because the record of appeal omitted relevant pages of the Industrial Court's award and its subsequent correction ruling. The court affirmed the Industrial Court's severance package (corrected to US$14,068), reinstated the award of UGX 70,000,000 aggravated damages (whose reasons had in fact been given on the missing page 12), affirmed the gratuity award, and confirmed its substitution of salary arrears with three months' pay (US$8,211). The judgment was corrected accordingly.

Facts

The appeal arose from a decision of the Industrial Court awarding the respondent special, general and punitive damages totalling UGX 430,000,000 on finding that he had been wrongly dismissed from employment. His services had been terminated effective 29 February 2016, and he filed a complaint for unfair termination under the Employment Act 2006, which was referred to the Industrial Court. The Court of Appeal delivered judgment on 22 October 2019. Afterwards, errors were drawn to its attention, partly because the record of appeal omitted page 12 of the Industrial Court's judgment (containing reasons for aggravated damages) and the subsequent Industrial Court ruling correcting the severance figures and period. The respondent filed Miscellaneous Application No. 368 of 2019 seeking correction. The court found the errors apparent on the record and moved on its own motion to correct them.

Issues

  1. Whether the judgment contained clerical or arithmetical mistakes or accidental slips correctable under Rule 36(1) of the Rules of the Court of Appeal.
  2. Whether the period of severance package, the award of aggravated damages, salary arrears, gratuity and the severance figure recorded in the judgment should be corrected to conform with the Industrial Court's award.

Orders

  • The judgment of 22 October 2019 is corrected on the court's own motion under Rule 36(1).
  • The decision of the Industrial Court on severance is affirmed, the severance figure corrected to US$14,068.
  • The decision disallowing aggravated damages of UGX 70,000,000 is set aside as issued in error, and the Industrial Court's award of UGX 70,000,000 aggravated damages is affirmed.
  • The decision of the Industrial Court on gratuity is affirmed.

Key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Correction of Judgments — Slip Rule — Rule 36(1) of the Rules of the Court of Appeal
A clerical or arithmetical mistake in a judgment, or an error arising from an accidental slip or omission, may be corrected at any time before or after the judgment is embodied in a decree, either on the court's own motion or on the application of an interested person, so as to give effect to the court's intention when judgment was given.
Civil Procedure — Record of Appeal — Errors Caused by Omitted Pages — Accidental Slip
Where an appellate court reaches a conclusion because relevant pages of the lower court's award or a subsequent correcting ruling were omitted from the record of appeal, the resulting error is an accidental slip correctable under the slip rule, and the affected part of the judgment may be set aside and the lower court's award affirmed.
Employment & Labour — Unfair Termination — Aggravated Damages — Requirement of Reasons
An award of aggravated damages must be supported by reasons; where the Industrial Court did in fact give reasons for awarding aggravated damages, an appellate finding that no reasons were given cannot stand and the award must be affirmed.
Employment & Labour — Termination — Salary Arrears — No Employer/Employee Relationship
An award of salary arrears cannot be made for a period after a contract has been effectively terminated because there is no longer an employer/employee relationship; such an award may instead be substituted with general damages.

Legislation cited (2)

  • Rules of the Court of Appeal r.36(1)
  • Employment Act 2006
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.