Ngure v Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Cause E072 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 500 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court ruled that time-bar objections need evidence, so an employee's claim for years of unpaid salary top-ups will proceed to full trial.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the preliminary objection was properly taken as a pure point of law
The objection was not properly sustainable because the claim's characterisation as a continuing injury and the date the cause of action arose are contested factual questions.
Relying on Mukisa Biscuit and Nitin Properties, the court reiterated that a preliminary objection must be a pure point of law argued on the assumption that all facts pleaded are correct. Here, whether the unpaid top-up salary amounts to a continuing injury under section 90 of the Employment Act, and when the cause of action accrued (stoppage of top-up in 2012, demand letter of 2016, or resignation in January 2024), require taking evidence from the parties and interrogation of facts. The objection therefore could not dispose of the suit.
Whether the claim is time-barred under section 90 of the Employment Act
Not determined finally; the question is deferred to trial because the date of accrual and the continuing-injury character of the claim are heavily contested.
Section 90 of the Employment Act ousts section 4(1) of the Limitation of Actions Act for employment causes and reduces the limitation period to three years, with a special regime for continuous injury or damage. The court drew on The German School Society v Ohany, and Indian authorities on continuing and recurring wrongs (M. R. Gupta; M. Siddiq), noting that a fresh cause of action may arise with each monthly salary payment where pay is wrongly computed. Because both the accrual date and the continuing-injury character are disputed, the limitation plea fails as a preliminary objection.
Legal principles established
#- A preliminary objection may only be raised on a pure question of law; where ascertainment of facts is required, it cannot succeed.
- Whether an employment claim constitutes a continuing injury under section 90 of the Employment Act, and when the cause of action arose, are matters requiring evidence and cannot be determined on a preliminary objection.
Court orders
#- 1.The preliminary objection dated 3rd October 2024 is not upheld; the Claimant's Memorandum of Claim proceeds to full hearing.
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Original employment and labour relations jurisdiction (Employment Act, section 90 in issue)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Ngure v Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Cause E072 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 500 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in the judgment (Memorandum of Claim dated 24th July 2024). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/500/eng@2025-02-20
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.