134 former employees of the National Bank of Kenya have been allowed to seize its assets worth Ksh 136 million if the financial institution declines to pay a similar amount.
A report by the People Daily on Tuesday, February 2, indicated that the Court of Appeal dismissed a suit by the bank seeking to throw out a previous order compelling the institution to pay its former workers a sum of Ksh136 million.
The three-judge bench, which included Justices Daniel Masinga, Gatembu Kairu and Jamila Mohammed, threw out the appeal after noting that it lacked merit.
The Labour and relations courts had dismissed a case in 2020 in which the bank had sued the Retirements and Benefits Authority (RBA).
The bank was ordered to settle the dues on its own.
A tribunal by the RBA in 2012, had ordered the bank to settle the dues as well as the interest that had accrued over the period.
The bank then moved to court claiming that it had acted out of its legal mandate based on the constitution.
In the latest ruling, the bench observed that NBK had under-calculated the worker's pension when they left employment.
“The orders issued by Labour court cannot be executed as they are negative orders,.
“The judge did not grant a positive order which was capable of execution. If the stay order is granted, it will have an indirect effect of reviving the dismissed application. This court cannot undo at this stage what the court has done,” ruled the judge.
The complainants argued in court that they had been contributing to the National Bank of Kenya Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme.
They had expected that upon retiring, their dues would be settled according to the rules set by the trust.
