Kenya Electrical Traders and Allied Workers Union v Kenya Electricity Transmission Limited (Cause E1060 of 2023) [2025] KEELRC 1491 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan court ruled that employers cannot refuse to hand employment records to a conciliator or walk away from conciliation they asked for.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the Respondent was statutorily obliged to furnish the Conciliator with employment records
Yes. The records requested are kept in the ordinary course of business under sections 10, 13, 20 and 74 of the Employment Act, 2007, and the Conciliator, as a Labour Officer, is an authorised officer entitled to their production; alternatively section 67(5) of the Labour Relations Act imposed the same obligation.
The Court found the requested documents (payrolls, staff lists, withdrawal lists, verification minutes) are records employers must keep under the Employment Act. Under section 74(2) such records must be produced for inspection by an authorised officer, and a Conciliator qualifies as a Labour Officer. Even if he did not, section 67(5) of the Labour Relations Act independently obliged the Respondent to provide them. The Respondent's refusal therefore lacked legal basis and mandamus was warranted.
Whether the Respondent could withdraw from the court-ordered conciliation
No. Having itself proposed conciliation, the Respondent could not in bad faith fail to cooperate or withdraw.
The dispute was referred to conciliation on the Court's direction, and it was the Respondent that requested that mode of resolution. Industrial relations depends on good faith between employers and trade unions; withdrawal and non-cooperation were therefore unconscionable and in bad faith.
Whether the census should be conducted by secret balloting in all stations
Yes. To establish the level of union representation in light of membership withdrawals, the census was ordered by secret ballot in all stations within 90 days.
The Court held a prompt census would be of mutual benefit given the withdrawals, and that the Respondent should not fear the Union's entry into the workplace since unions have a constitutional right to organise and employees a right to associate with a trade union of their choice.
Legal principles established
#- A party that proposed or acquiesced in referral to conciliation cannot in bad faith fail to cooperate with the Conciliator or withdraw from the conciliation.
- An employer is under a statutory duty to produce employment records, and a Conciliator (being a Labour Officer) is an authorised officer entitled to inspect them.
Court orders
#- 1.An order directing the Respondent to provide the Conciliator with the documents enumerated in the Conciliator's correspondences dated 1 October 2024 and 20 November 2024, as well as the Progress Report dated 2 October 2024 and placed before the Court, on or before 30 May 2025
- 2.In default, the Conciliator is free to rely on the records placed before the Court
- 3.An order that the census ordered on 22 May 2024 be conducted by way of secret balloting in all of the Respondent's stations within the next 90 days to establish the level of union representation and membership
- 4.Costs of the Motion to the Union
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Inherent powers of the Employment and Labour Relations Court over the cause, including the court-ordered conciliation and census
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Kenya Electrical Traders and Allied Workers Union v Kenya Electricity Transmission Limited (Cause E1060 of 2023) [2025] KEELRC 1491 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Cause (not stated in extract; Motion dated 17 February 2025). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/1491/eng@2025-05-22
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.