Michael Aloo Achieng v Anvi Emporium Limited [2021] KEELRC 1991 (KLR)

The Employment Act leaves working hours to agreement, subject to Regulation of Wages Orders for specific sectors. The claimant did not address working hours in his witness statement and never disclosed which Wages Order applied to the respondent's sector. Without that disclosure, no evidential foundation for the overtime claim was laid and relief was declined.

The claimant was entitled to 21 days annual leave on full pay. He testified he never took leave during the roughly two years of employment. The respondent did not traverse the pleadings on accrued leave and produced no leave records, so in light of section 10(3) of the Employment Act the court allowed the head of claim and awarded Kshs 23,520/-.

The claimant asserted verbal termination without reasons on 21 December 2015, while the respondent asserted desertion after 19 December 2015. Section 47(5) places the burden on the claimant to show at the first instance that an unfair termination occurred. The claimant's witness statement and oral testimony never identified who terminated his employment, so he failed to discharge even the low threshold burden, and salary in lieu of notice and compensation were unavailable.