Court awards man Sh500,000 for unfair dismissal

The Kisumu Employment and Labor Relations Court has awarded Sh500,000 to a Rianyamwamu Tea Factory employee for unfair dismissal.

The court ruled that the employee was unfairly dismissed from his job on the grounds that his employer was cutting costs.

In delivering his ruling, Justice Stephen Radido emphasized the need for employers to support their dismissal claims with concrete evidence claiming that the tea factory, among other reasons, had failed to alert the agency for the use of the envisaged dismissal.

Denis Maranga Ongeri, was brought to court for unfair dismissal, a complaint that the judge found to be founded.

“It is clear that the Rianyamwamu Tea Factory was vacating Ongeri for operational reasons. This was a declaration of termination and did not give him 30 days notice. Instead, he claims that because he paid her the equivalent of 2 months’ salary as notice, he complied with the notice requirement,” Judge Radido said.

“Apart from its pleadings and assertions, Rianyamwamu Tea Factory has not submitted to the court any records or documents to support the claim of high and unsustainable labor costs. The Court finds that it has not proven valid and equitable reasons for Ongeri’s dismissal.

Following these findings, the court ruled in favor of Ongeri, awarding him compensation of Sh531,750. This decision included considerations regarding pay in lieu of notice, bonuses, severance pay and other terminal charges.

Further, the court ordered that the amount awarded would bear interest at the court rate if not paid within 30 days.

The court at the same time rejected Ongeri’s claim for a service allowance of one million shillings, saying he was not qualified.

“Ongeri claimed Sh1,063,500 as service allowance. Evidence presented to the court indicates that the plaintiff was a member and contributor to a provident fund as well as the National Social Security Fund. Under sections 35(5) and (6) of the Employment Act, 2007, the applicant is not eligible for payment of service allowance,” Justice Radido said.

The main issue at hand was the dismissal of Ongeri by Rianyamwamu Tea Factory Ltd.

The company had cited “high and unsustainable labor costs” as the reason for Ongeri’s dismissal, seeing it as part of a staff rationalization process.

The factory said it paid its former employee a gratuity of Sh779,252 and a severance package of Sh649,377 as a sign of good faith when they parted ways.

Ongeri, a director of the company, said he was declared redundant on October 14, 2022, through a letter stating that he would relinquish his duties from October 31, 2022 due to labor costs. -unsustainable work.

He argued that his employer had breached sections 43 and 45 of the Employment Act 2007 which placed the burden on him to prove good and fair reasons for terminating a contract of employment.

Ongeri argued that the high salary cost reason given by his employer for terminating his employment was not viable.