Kenya Plantation & Agricultural Workers Union v Rea Vipingo Limited & another (Cause E008 of 2025) [2025] KEELRC 2098 (KLR)

Section 48(3) of the LRA requires an employer to commence deducting trade union dues within thirty days of service of the Form S notice. The claimant served check-off forms on 1 and 3 February 2025 but filed the application dated 29 January 2025, before those 30 days lapsed. The 1st respondent's unchallenged evidence showed it began deducting and remitting dues in the month following submission of the check-off forms, rendering the relief moot and premature.

The court held it could not grant a declaratory order binding all employees of both respondents without the CBA itself being submitted for analysis. Declaring a CBA to constitute minimum terms affects all employees on the shop floor, including those of the 2nd respondent; the claimant had to provide context to enable the respondents to respond and the court to make an informed decision. Such a determination requires full material and evidence, not an interlocutory application.

Clause 19 permits the employer, at its discretion, to provide a bicycle allowance where workplaces lie outside a 2km radius. The 1st respondent's unchallenged evidence was that it pays a monthly bicycle allowance to eligible field employees and allows purchase of bicycles in instalments upon written request. The claimant's affidavit did not identify any employee denied the allowance, so granting the relief would defeat the purpose of the bicycle allowance plan.

The court acknowledged that the 1st respondent has permanent and fixed-term employees and outsourced labour from the 2nd respondent sharing the shop floor. Citing authorities, it held that under sections 10, 26 and 48 of the Employment Act an employer shall not give less favourable terms than the Act or a CBA provides, and section 11(3) obliges disclosure of any applicable CBA; failure is discriminatory. However, the substantive determination awaited full evidence at the trial of the claim.