Ingado v One Acre Fund (Employment and Labour Relations Appeal E003 of 2023) [2024] KEELRC 1074 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court upheld One Acre Fund's dismissal of an employee for policy violations, confirming summary dismissal is lawful when employers follow fair procedures.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the termination was substantively fair
The reason for termination - breach of the respondent's policies on fraud, negligence and client data protection - was valid and related to the employee's conduct and the employer's operational requirements.
The appellant admitted breaching the respondent's policies: paying a qualification fee using her own phone to meet targets, issuing inputs using another farmer's account, retaining inputs meant for a farmer, and collecting repayments that were never remitted. She had signed and been trained on the policies. Applying the reasonable-employer test in British Leyland v Swift, the court found a reasonable employer could have dismissed her; the magistrate's finding on substantive fairness was upheld.
Whether the dismissal was procedurally fair under section 41 of the Employment Act
Procedural fairness was met: the appellant received a show cause letter, replied, attended a virtual disciplinary hearing, was offered the right to be accompanied and to call witnesses, and had a right of appeal which she opted not to exercise.
The court re-evaluated the evidence and found no proof the investigator was partial or unqualified for an internal investigation that did not require criminal-process standards. The appellant confirmed her responses to the investigator by email. The dismissal letter set out the appeal procedure. Internal investigations need not meet criminal standards, and an employer's internal investigation by its own employee is not, without more, partial or inadmissible.
Whether the appellant was entitled to the ancillary reliefs (leave, overtime, underpayment, notice pay, general damages)
None was granted; the leave, overtime and underpayment claims failed for want of proof and pleading, and notice pay and general damages were unavailable given a lawful dismissal.
The appellant confirmed terminal dues including untaken leave were paid; overtime, being special damages, had to be specifically pleaded and proved; underpayment was first quantified at submissions stage, which cannot substitute for pleadings; and general damages are not a remedy under section 49 for a lawful termination.
Legal principles established
#- A court sitting on first appeal must reconsider and re-evaluate the evidence and draw its own conclusions, making allowance for not having seen or heard the witnesses.
- An employee may be summarily dismissed without notice or prior warning for gross misconduct under section 44 of the Employment Act, subject to procedural fairness.
- Claims pleaded only at submissions stage fail because submissions are not pleadings.
Court orders
#- 1.The appeal fails in its entirety and is dismissed
- 2.The judgment of Hon. L. Kassam (CM) delivered on 26th April 2023 in Kakamega MCELRC Cause No. 64 of 2021 and the consequential decree are upheld
- 3.Each party to bear its own costs in the appeal
- On appeal from
- Chief Magistrate's Court, Kakamega (MCELRC Cause No. 64 of 2021)
- Kakamega MCELRC Cause No. 64 of 2021
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appellate jurisdiction over the trial magistrate's judgment (appeal from the subordinate court in an employment cause)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Kihara v Almasi Bottlers Limited & another (Civil Appeal E225 of 2021) [2025] KECA 1893 (KLR)[2025] KECA 1893 (KLR)7 Nov 2025
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Ingado v One Acre Fund (Employment and Labour Relations Appeal E003 of 2023) [2024] KEELRC 1074 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2024). Kakamega MCELRC Appeal (from Kakamega MCELRC Cause No. 64 of 2021). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2024/1074/eng@2024-04-25
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.