- 30 employees were dismissed after plastic ban in 2017
- The company had not given notice to the employees
Image: FILE
The labour court in Kisumu has ordered Foam Mattresses Limited to pay 30 former employees illegally dismissed.
Justice Matthews Nduma said even though the company had valid reasons to send the employees home, it failed to follow the legal procedure.
He ordered the company to pay the 30 an equivalent of three months salary in compensation for the unprocedural and unfair termination of employment amounting to about Sh1.2 million.
He also asked Foam Mattresses to pay the claimants a sum in lieu of leave days not taken.
Foam Mattresses dismissed its employees in March 2017 following the ban on manufacture and use of plastic bags.
According to the former employees, they reported on duty as usual only to be notified that they had been terminated.
They said they all worked in the plastic factory in various capacities since 2014. They had no letters of appointment but paid NHIF and NSSF dues.
Before the termination, the former employees said their employer did not give them any warning, notice nor were they called to any hearing to explain their side of the story.
“The termination was not lawful and was without any justifiable reason. We suffered loss and damage and claim damages equivalent to 12 months salary in compensation,” testified Erick Aram, one of the claimants.
They also prayed for payment of terminal benefits including one month salary in lieu of notice and leave days earned.
“We served notices of demand but the company has failed to make good the loss incurred by each one of us,” the law firm representing them told court.
Another victim, Immaculate Atieno, testified that she was simply told that there was no more work and that she and others should go home and would be recalled when work was available.
“We were never recalled. Form Mattresses paid salary for days worked without payment of any terminal benefits,” Atieno said.
Foam human resources officer Joab Aloo said on March 1, 2017, the government banned production, sale and use of plastics and the company was affected by the ban. The company, he said, had to give some of their employees a break to address the situation.
“The company verbally notified the employees during a morning parade that there was reduction of work due to the ban and therefore would give them a break and call them back if work increases,” said Aloo.
He argued that the company did not terminate the employment of the claimants as they promised to recall them but failed to do so because they sued.
“They were paid to help them put food on their table. The company could not recall the claimants since that was overtaken by events when they filed cases in 2017,” he said.
Judge Nduma in his ruling last week said Foam Mattresses was duty bound to follow the provisions of the Employment Act in laying off claimants who had become redundant.
“They did not provide a notice of not less than a month of the intended redundancy to each of the claimants individually and to the Ministry of Labour,” the judge said.
“They did not demonstrate the selection criteria applied in terminating the employment of the claimants as required.”