A Nigerian national has lost his claim for unfair dismissal against a takeaway business run by his own family.

Tolani Emmanuel Okunola was dismissed from Oris de Master’s Snack Shack kiosk on Douglas promenade after working there for just over two and a half years.

The tribunal proceedings took a strange twist when it emerged the complainant was not the nephew of proprietor Oris Okunola as had originally been claimed - but his natural son.

And it was revealed he had been granted right of entry by the immigration authorities to join Snack Shack as catering floor manager/sales driver despite having no valid driving licence.

The tribunal heard that Oris de Master’s Snack Shack was the trading name of a partnership between Mrs Adrienn Okunola-Beres and Mr Oluwafemi Oris Okunola.

But this did not match the information Mrs Okunola-Beres had put on the immigration application form, when she had described the business as a company listed at the Companies’ Registry and she had signed the form as a director.

Mr Okunola’s employment began in in November 2022 on a starting salary of £23,000.

He claimed he had been dismissed without notice when he arrived at work as usual on July 14 last year.

In her evidence, Mrs Okunola-Beres said that following his arrival in 2022, for the first two years, Mr Okunola had been an excellent employee, but the situation had changed in the third year and his performance had dropped.

Mr Okunola’s evidence was that he discovered that his right to remain on the island was going to end in November unless he was in employment and he had found out that the respondent intended to terminate his employment.

The tribunal heard he had discovered his future employment was being discussed when he secretly accessed his father’s phone.

There was an angry exchange and a confrontation between him and his father and later that day Mrs Okunola-Beres said she had received a phone call from Mr Okunola who informed her that he would never come to work anymore. She took this as his resignation.

He unexpectedly turned up to the Snack Shack the next morning when he secretly recorded the meeting on his phone. The tribunal listened to the recording and concluded he was not seeking his job back but was demanding payment.

Mr Okunola confirmed that he had tried without success to secure other employment and been given legal advice that he should leave the island to avoid being treated as an ‘overstay’.

But when he and his family reached Gatwick Airport to fly back to Nigeria, he had received an email from his Manx lawyer with new advice that he should return to the Isle of Man because there was an alternative lawful route that would permit him, his wife and daughter to remain.

He remains in the island now.

The tribunal rejected the unfair dismissal claim but awarded Mr Okunola £941.72 for the respondent’s failure to provide appropriate payslips.

The business is now operating as the Conister Rock Kiosk.