Tarmal Wire Production Limited v Shauri (Employment and Labour Relations Appeal E115 of 2023) [2024] KEELRC 2306 (KLR)
The bottom line
#What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the Respondent was employed on fixed term contracts
The Respondent was indeed on a fixed term contract which he duly signed in the presence of a witness on 28/1/2021, and which terminated by effluxion of time on 1/3/2021.
The produced fixed term contract bore the Respondent's signature and thumbprint on each of six pages, which he did not deny thumb-printing. The salary and job title in the contract matched his pleadings. The February 2021 payslip was signed and thumb-printed by him without challenge. The Appellant's witness testified all employees were on fixed term contracts. The Respondent offered no evidence supporting his contrary assertion.
Whether the termination was unfair
The trial court erred; the contract ended by effluxion of time on 1/3/2021, not by termination on 25/2/2021, so there was no unfair termination
There was no evidence supporting the trial court's finding that services were terminated on 25/2/2021. The February 2021 payslip showed full salary and house allowance paid, leave days paid for, and the payslip signed and thumb-printed by the Respondent without dispute. Applying the Court of Appeal authorities, claims for wrongful termination cannot be maintained where a fixed term contract ends by effluxion of time.
Legal principles established
#- A first appellate court must re-evaluate the evidence and arrive at its own independent conclusion
- A fixed term contract carries no rights or expectations beyond its expiry date, and no claim for wrongful termination lies where the contract ended by effluxion of time
- An employer has no obligation to give reasons for not renewing a fixed term contract
Court orders
#- 1.The trial Court's judgment delivered on 13/10/2023 is set aside in its entirety
- 2.Substituted with an order dismissing the primary suit, Mariakani Principal Magistrate's Court ELR Case No. E048 of 2022
- 3.Each party to bear its own costs of the appeal and of the proceedings in the trial Court
- On appeal from
- Mariakani Principal Magistrate's Court
- Employment Case No. E048 of 2022
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appellate jurisdiction over the trial court's judgment (appeal from Mariakani Principal Magistrate's Court)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Tarmal Wire Production Limited v Shauri (Employment and Labour Relations Appeal E115 of 2023) [2024] KEELRC 2306 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2024). . Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2024/2306/eng@2024-09-26
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.