Learn key strategies to avoid unfair termination claims in Kenya. This essential guide for HR managers helps safeguard your company from costly legal disputes.
At F.M. Muteti & Co. Advocates, we intricately and passionately understand that labour law is a fundamental aspect of modern society. As top employment and labour lawyers in Kenya, we also recognize the multifaceted nature of labour and employment matters in terms of advising on the contractual nature of employment, industry- specific labour requirements and procedures, compliance with labour laws, safety and welfare of employees at the workplace.
Owing to the significance of labour as a factor of production, labour rights remain one of the most championed human rights globally and thus employment and labour rights continue to enjoy formal legal protection internationally and locally.
However, despite the law elaborately providing for the procedure to be followed in terminating a contract of employment, many companies and their human resource managers perennially find themselves caught up in claims of unfair termination of employment in Kenya against them.
In this segment, F.M. Muteti & Co. Advocates takes a deep dive in how companies and human resource managers can avoid unfair termination of their employees and thereby, reducing or eliminating the risk of litigation.
How can a company or a human resource manager avoid a claim for unfair termination of employment in Kenya?
- Conduct a Legal and Compliance Audit
On one hand, a legal audit is a comprehensive review of the company’s policies and procedures to ensure that they comply with relevant laws and regulations. On the other hand, a compliance audit is the analysis of a company’s adherence to internal policies, procedures and external laws and regulations.
Employment and labour law experts in Kenya will assist your company to conduct a comprehensive legal audit of your company’s compliance with labour and employment laws by identifying areas of non-compliance with a view to developing a remedial strategy, identifying compliant areas, sustaining the compliance and aspiring to cultivate the best labour practices in the organization.
- Align the Company’s Policies and Procedures with the Relevant and Applicable Labour Laws and Regulations
After identifying areas of non-compliance with labour and employment laws, the employment and labour law consultants will then assist your company or its human resource manager to align all company policies and internal procedures with national and international labour laws with a view to ultimately achieving compliance standards. The labour and employment law experts shall thus develop compliant codes of conduct, human resource policies and manuals including grievance handling procedures.
- Train all the Employees on the New Workplace Policies and Procedures
Once the new policies and procedures are successfully commissioned by the company, your employment and labour law experts will assist you in bit-by-bit training of the employees on the new company policies and human resource procedures. Accordingly, it is extremely important to train all employees on the grievance handling mechanism.
By this point, the top management, middle level management, human resource managers and all employees are confident and aware of the new workplace policies and procedures and thus in case of breach, the company or human resource manager may legally be at liberty to discipline the employee.
- Adhere to the Provisions of the Internal Grievance Handling Mechanism and the Employment Act, 2007 in the process of termination.
The Employment Act, 2007 provides for the procedure to be followed by an employer who is considering to terminate the employment of an employee. As top employment lawyers in Kenya, F.M. Muteti & Co. Advocates advise our corporate an individual Clients to adhere to the following chronological procedure to ensure a fair termination of employment.
- Objectively investigate the breach of policy or procedure;
- Issue a Notice To Show Cause to the employee;
- Inform the employee of the intention to terminate his employment and explanation of the same while the employee is accompanied by a fellow employee or a shop floor union representative of his choice;
- Invite the employee to a disciplinary hearing and give him adequate time to prepare for the disciplinary hearing;
- Convene the disciplinary hearing after constituting an impartial panel;
- Communicate the decision of the disciplinary hearing to the employee within a reasonable time;
- If dismissed, inform the employee of the right of appeal and the procedure for appealing against the unfair termination of employment in Kenya;
- Convene an impartial panel for hearing of the appeal; and
- Communicate the appellate decision to the employee within a reasonable period.
The best employment and labour lawyers at F.M. Muteti & Co. Advocates are ready and passionate in conducting your company’s legal compliance audit, developing your company’s employment code of conduct, work place policies including workplace data protection policy, sexual harassment policy and mental health policy.
We are also keen on training human resource managers and staff on employment laws and regulations. Additionally, our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team ardently represents both corporate and individual Clients at the Employment & Labour Relations Court.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute a legal advisory. We advise prospective Clients to get in touch with us for more comprehensive and contextualized legal advice.
