Mariakani Hospital Ordered to Pay Employee Ksh 545,000 for Unfair Dismissal
He denied disappearing with the said vehicle claiming he would sign a gate pass on leaving the Respondent’s premises, whenever he drove the Respondent’s car.
Mariakani Cottage Hospital has been ordered to pay its former employee a substantial sum of Ksh 545,000 due to the unfair termination of their employment.
Sitting at Nairobi Employment Labour and Relations Court, Justice James Rika ordered the facility to compensate Robert Mbue Gitonga with the said amount following the damages caused as a result of unfair termination of employment.
He stated that “The Respondent shall pay to the Claimant arrears of salary at Ksh 345,400; gratuity at Ksh 50,000; and compensation for unfair termination equivalent of 6 months’ salary at Ksh 150,000 – total Ksh 545,400.
Gitonga filed a Statement of Claim, dated June 26, 2023, stating that he was employed by the facility as an ambulance driver, for 3 years from March 1, 2018, with a salary of Ksh 25,000 per month.
The contract was further renewed for another 3 years, commencing March 1, 2021.
He was suspended in September 2022, on the allegation that he left the hospital in the Respondent’s vehicle, without permission.
During the suspension, he submitted that he was advised he would be called but he was never contacted prompting him to present the claim.
In his defense, Gitonga stated that the allegation was untrue, and was aimed at terminating the contract prematurely, without paying him his full salary. According to him, he was owed Ksh 350,000 at the time of suspension.
He denied disappearing with the said vehicle claiming he would sign a gate pass on leaving the Respondent’s premises, whenever he drove the Respondent’s car.
In determining the suit, Justice Rika noted that the respondent did not file any pleadings, evidence, or documents, and “the court had no reason to doubt the claimant’s position,” the document read in part.
Justice Rika also noted that the claimant was advised that he would be recalled but he was not recalled.
“He was right in his thinking, that suspension was intended to be termination. he Respondent did not
establish valid reason in terminating the Claimant’s contract, or follow a fair procedure, in accordance with Sections 41, 43 and 45 of the Employment Act,” Justice Rika said.
He concluded that the termination was unfair and unlawful and ordered the claimant to be compensated a sum of Ksh 345,400.
