A court in Kisumu ordered an employer to pay a former employee Ksh417,000 as compensation for unlawful retrenchment.
The employee was reportedly fired after he was caught using the company’s internet to access personal information.
Justice Christine Baari of the Employment and Labour Relations Court, while delivering the ruling on November 21, noted that the dismissal was unfair.
She further ruled that using the company’s internet for personal matters was more of an ethical rather than a legal issue.
“The reasons for dismissing him are neither fair nor justified.
“Accessing documents from an employer’s computer is not, in my view, a ground for summary dismissal or for termination at all,” the Justice ruled.
She further sympathised with the employee for getting fired at a time when the country was grappling with a high unemployment rate.
“The summary dismissal was too harsh a penalty in a job-scarce economy and for which a warning would have been sufficient.
“Dismissal failed both the procedural and the substantive fairness tests. It was unfair,” Justice Baari added.
The company was also accused of flouting the Employment Act 2007.
It was ascertained that the employee was fired without being given a fair hearing, contravening the Employment Act.
The Ksh417,000 totalled the eight months' salary compensation the employee had filed for in court.
