The National Assembly on Wednesday, February 28, rejected the Employment (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bill No. 11 of 2022) that had sought to bar bosses from contacting their employees outside work hours.
The rejection of the Bill was recommended by Member of Parliament Erick Muchagi who is the chairperson of the National Assembly Labour Committee.
Muchangi in his submissions to the House indicated that the Committee had unanimously decided to reject it.
This decision was arrived at after taking into account the views and recommendations of the public and relevant stakeholders.
“The justification is that the Bill does not consider the changing work environment, in current work trends where work is not, measured in terms of hours of work, but in terms of output and achievement of employment target deliverables,” the Runyenjes MP told the House.
If the Bill had passed the second reading, employers would have been limited in contacting employees past work hours using any electronic device in work-related matters.
Employees were being empowered to ignore communication from their bosses without fear of reprimand or any form of punishment.
Should out of their own volition the employee decide to answer, the employee would be entitled to get compensation.
The Bill had given a leeway to employers contacting their staff in case of emergency.
“A person who contravenes this commits an offence and is liable to on conviction to a fine not exceeding Ksh500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both,” the Bill had proposed.
According to the Legislative Process of the National Assembly, a Bill is lost if it is rejected at either the Second Reading, Committee of the whole House or at Third Reading.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula will now write to his Senate counterpart Amason Kingi indicating why the Bill was rejected.
