A Nyeri construction company has been ordered by the employment court to pay their former crusher foreman Sh 2.5 million for unlawfully firing him last year.
Justice Onesmus Makau has ruled that Francis Ndung’u was dismissed unlawfully by Roben Aberdare Limited in 2021 and he should be paid compensation among other costs.
The award has been broken down as follows Compensation Sh 390,000, notice pay sh 130,000, accrued leave Sh 379,167, service pay Sh 325,000 and house allowance Sh 1,365,000.
In his judgment, Judge Makau agreed with Ndung’u that the company had no valid and fair reason to justify the summary dismissal as required by law.
The company had claimed that he was fired because he neglected the crusher machine and it deteriorated and upon being asked he engaged in a verbal altercation with the general manager.
However, the court noted that the company never produced in court the report on the state of the machine as evidence.
The judge also said that there was also no eye witness called to fortify the alleged altercation between Ndung’u and the general manager.
“All that the court has received is the written statement of the general manager against that of the claimant, the court makes the inference that the reason why the company has failed to call an eye witness is that there was none or there was no altercation at all,” the court ruled.
In the case, Ndung’u claimed that he was employed in April 2015 and worked until February 2021 when he was fired.
He said it was unfair because there was no valid reason and he was not accorded any hearing before the dismissal.
He said he was shocked to receive the summary dismissal letter without any prior notice or being accorded a fair hearing
The company opposed the case asking the court not to grant him any orders as he had pleaded.
It argued that Ndung’u was given a chance of being heard but he refused to reply to the accusations levelled against him and chose to engage in a verbal exchange with the general manager.
The company said the employee grossly neglected his duties to the extent that he ran down the crusher machine.
It was also their argument that Ndung’u was not entitled to damages for unfair dismissal because he was 72 years old at the time of his dismissal.
