Employer to pay House-help Sh270,964 plus interest from time of this judgment & to provide her with certificate of service within 30 days. Court rules.
Justice Nduma Nderi of the Employment and Labour Relations Court has come in defense of House helps against rogue employers who have been employing and dismissing them against their will. In the ruling, she said,
“It is unlawful to terminate the employment of a house help without giving her notice. It is also illegal and unfair labour practice to send a house help away without paying her any terminal benefits and not giving her certificate of service,”
If you have been doing this as an employer, you have more reasons to worry because if the house help you have dismissed or plan to dismiss will learn of her rights, be told that you will pay more for wrongful dismissal. An example is the case of Moreen Muhani who had sued her employer Namuben Manji Bhinji for terminating her contract without a valid reason.
Muhani claimed that she was employed by Bhinji as a house girl in February 2015 with a monthly salary of Sh3,000. After toiling for two years, Muhani approached the employer on December 30, 2016 and requested for salary increment. She narrated that, instead of listening to her request, Bhinji got annoyed, terminated the contract and sent her away the next day.
She filed the case in the court stating that her job was terminated without notice, good reason and compensation. In the ruling Justice Nduma Nderi, said that,
“The employer violated sections 36,41,43 and 45 of the Employment Act 2007 and the claimant is entitled to compensation. I find that the house girl did not contribute to the termination of her job. She was underpaid and was victimized for asserting her right for salary increment,”
According to the judge, the law requires that you must give notice to your house help whenever you want to terminate their contract, pay them terminal benefits and give them certificate of service when you part ways.
The Employment Act states that the minimum salary for a house help should be Sh10,107 and that the employer should enroll her to National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and provide her with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) card.
She awarded Muhani Sh206,953 as compensation for the two years she was underpaid, adding that the house girl was entitled to one month leave every year worked and awarded her Sh20,107 as two months’ salary for the two years she worked without going on leave.
The judge further awarded her Sh13,473 for the public holidays worked without rest and Sh10,107 being the minimum one-month salary she should have been paid in lieu of notice to terminate her contract.
In total, Justice Nderi ordered Bhinji to pay her former house girl Sh270,964 including interest from the time of judgment and to provide Muhanji with a certificate of service within 30 days.
