Members of National Assembly have rejected a Senate bill that would see employees disregard phone calls, emails or reject any duties given by their bosses outside the stipulated working hours.
The Employment (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was passed by the Senate and had been taken to National Assembly for occurrence.
The law proposal would allow employees to disconnect from work – entitlement not to be contacted by the employer during out of work hours as per the employer’s policy.
“Where an employer contacts an employee during the period when there is no mutually agreed out of work hours, the employee shall not be obliged to respond,” the Bill reads in part.
An employer who forces his employees to do the assignment and fails to compensate them, he or she will be liable to a fine of Sh500,000 or spend one year in jail.
The Bill was sponsored by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.
On Tuesday, MPs unanimously voted to adopt the Labour Committee report that recommended total rejection terming it impractical.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah called for the withdrawal of the Charargei Bill altogether. “This Bill should not even be taken to mediation, the owner should just withdraw it,” Ichung’wah said
Ordinarily, all Bills passed by either of the House are subjected to mediation process to strike a middle ground.
Contributing on the Bill, Kangema MP Peter Kihungu termed the proposal discriminatory as it does not factor the welfare of the employer.
“When it talks about disconnection, it states that the employee can only be engaged during an emergency. We wondered how one would be able to contact the employee if he had already disconnected from the employer,” Kihungu said.
“Therefore, the Bill does not explain how an employee can be contacted during an emergency because, immediately after work, the employee will have the right to switch off their phone, and the employer cannot contact them.”
Tharaka MP George Murugara argued that the proposal is a breach of the employment laws in the country as it does not ‘give the employer the same right to disconnect’.
“Having looked at this Bill, the cardinal principle of legality is that you cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. There is no way you can confer rights upon persons without corresponding obligations to them. I am not sure where this Bill was lifted from,” Murugara who also chairs the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee said.
Kenya Federation of Employers and Association of Manufacturers had also opposed the Bill cautioning that it may hurt the country’s business environment.
Dagoretti North MP Beatrice Elachi while rejecting the Bill said it does not align to the Public Service Commission Act especially on clustering of the employees.
According to Elachi, employees commit to adhere to some rules and regulations of institutions when they are offered the letter of employment.
“The Bill is either talking to a group that we have not seen working in this country or one that is about to come,” Elachi said.
