Three former G4S employees have been awarded over Sh10 million as terminal dues and compensation for unlawful dismissal. Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Hellen Wasilwa ruled that G4S should pay its former employees Caroline Wangai, Sarah Adhiambo and Martin Mwangi over unlawful redundancy and termination of their jobs.
G4S has failed to show that they adhered to the provisions of Section 40 of Employment Act, which mandates the employer to give notice to the employees on the intended redundancy
ruled Wasilwa
The judge added that there is no evidence that there were 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.
The amount is inclusive of 10 months compensation as damages for unfair redundancy, unlawful termination, the salary of failure to give notice and cost of the petition among other payments,
the judge ruled
Sarah Adhiambo has been awarded Sh4.2 million, Caroline Wangari Sh3.1 million and Martin Mwangi Sh3.3 million.
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 will be terminated.
Onyancha sought 12 months compensation for unlawful termination among other payments. Adhiambo testified that she was employed on February 6, 2006, as a National Sales Manager while Wangari was employed in 1995 as a telephone operator and later as a strategic accountant.
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 unlawful
said lawyer Onyancha in court papers
She informed the court that at the time of her termination her salary was Sh417,620 while Wangari’s was Sh288,000.
“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 a redundancy letter on January 16, 2017, after she went back to work from leave which was the same time she was issued 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.
The Company through its HR Manager Teya Sitimah testified that they had meetings on November 24, 25 and 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 Labour office dated December 1, 2016, was posted on an even day and was received on December 15, 2016, bearing the stamps and the claimants allegation that the notice was never issued without basis.
“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.