Sum v Agriculture and Food Authority (Cause E019 of 2021) [2022] KEELRC 1413 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court ruled that a retired employee redeployed from the Pyrethrum Board must receive Kshs. 924,000 ex-gratia pay because the employer couldn't prove the benefit was abolished.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Entitlement to ex-gratia pay upon exit
The Claimant proved entitlement to 7 months' salary as ex-gratia, the payment having been provided by circular and paid to other employees absorbed from the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya
The Claimant produced a Pyrethrum Board of Kenya circular entitling employees with over 21 years' service to 7 months' basic salary as ex-gratia. His redeployment letter provided that terms and conditions remained the same. The Respondent alleged the benefit was abolished after the transition but produced no evidence to demonstrate this, and the benefit had been paid to other employees including in Industrial Cause No. 19 of 2014.
Continuity of terms and conditions upon transition under the Crops Act reforms
The Claimant's terms and conditions subsisting prior to the transition were preserved, and the Respondent failed to prove any change abolishing the ex-gratia benefit
The Claimant's letter of redeployment expressly stated that his terms and conditions of appointment remained the same. The Respondent asserted that all terms subsisting as at 1st July 2014 ceased to apply, but the human resource manual produced contained no clause abolishing the prior terms. In the absence of evidence of abolition, the ex-gratia entitlement carried over.
Legal principles established
#- An ex-gratia payment which has been paid to other similarly placed employees and not demonstrably abolished forms part of the employee's entitlements on exit
Court orders
#- 1.Award of ex-gratia payment of 7 months salary calculated as Kshs. 132,000 x 7 = Kshs. 924,000, less statutory deductions
- 2.Respondent to pay costs of the suit plus interest at court rates
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Employment and Labour Relations Court original jurisdiction over employment disputes
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Sum v Agriculture and Food Authority (Cause E019 of 2021) [2022] KEELRC 1413 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2022). ELRC Cause (Memorandum of Claim dated 22nd April, 2021). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2022/1413/eng@2022-05-17
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.