Three former G4S employees have been awarded over 10.M as terminal dues and compensation for unlawful termination.
Lady Justice Hellen Wasilwa has ruled against the company and ordered it to pay Sarah Adhiambo,a National Sales Manager, former G4sTelephone Manager Caroline Wangari and Martin Mwangi over unlawful redundancy and termination of their jobs.
The three employees through lawyer Cynthia Kwamboka Onyancha had taken the company to court in the year 2017 contesting that they were never notified that their employment would be terminated. “We are seeking a declaration that the act of G4s of terminating my client’s employment on grounds of redundancy was not procedural, illegal and is unlawful,” said lawyer Ms.
Onyancha in court.Ms. Onyancha wanted the court to grant them 12 months compensation for unlawful termination among other payments. “G4s has failed to show that they adhered to the provisions of section 40 of Employment Act, which mandates employers to give notice to the employees on the intended redundancy,“ruled Wasilwa.
The judge added that there is no evidence that there were also consultations between the former employees and the company before the said redundancy. She ruled that the minutes of the meetings that are alleged to have had taken place were not produced in court by G4s and therefore the court was unable to deduce whether there was any discussion on redundancy.
Adhiambo has been awarded Sh 4.2Million, Wangari Sh3.1Million and Mwangi Sh 3.3Million. The amount is inclusive of 10 months compensation damages for unfair redundancy, unlawful termination, salary of failure to give notice and cost of the petition among other payments.
The three had filed an application being represented by lawyer Cynthia Kwamboka in the year 2017.
They were also seeking compensation for unlawful termination of the employment and 12 months compensation for unlawful termination.
Adhiambo testified that she was employed on February 6, 2006as a National Sales Manager while Wangari was employed in 1995 as a telephone operator and later as a strategic accountant. Ms.Adhiambo had informed the court that at the time of her termination her salary was Sh 417,620 while Wangari’s was Sh 288,000.
“I did not receive the letter dated February 6, 2016 and the letter dated December 1, 2016 did not mention my name or that of Wangari,”Adhiambo told the court.
According to the complainants there was no mention of redundancy in all the meetings they attended.
Adhiambo said that she was issued with a redundancy letter on January 16, 2017 after she went back to work from leave which was the same time she was issued with a notice of redundancy.
She said that in the new structure, their roles were missing and the explanation given by G4s Company was that the organization was considering lowering their roles.
“My appointment letter provided that I was to be given 3months termination notice but I was never issued with such notice, “he added.
The Company through its HR manager Teya Sitimah testified that they had meetings on November 24, 25 and November 28, 2016 in which they discussed redundancy in the sales division.“In the meetings we shared with the claimants the then structure and proposed structures, “he added.
They added that the notice to the labor office dated December 1,2016 was posted on even day and was received on December 15,2016 bearing the stamps and the claimants allegation that the notice was never issued is without basis.
He added that they employees were paid their redundancy paying full and they had admitted to having received their payments.
“The termination was substantively and not procedural fair because it complied with the law, “he added.G4S officials added that the claimants were terminated as per their contracts of payments and have been paid their redundancy dues.
