Priyguru Limited v Tuyisenge (Suing as an Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Emmanuel Ndayizeye) (Employment and Labour Relations Appeal E356 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 2135 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled an employer could deduct Kshs 120,000 advanced to a deceased worker's family from the final work injury payout.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the appeal was time barred
The appeal was compliant with the law, having been filed on 16th December 2024 within 30 days of the Director's decision dated 19th November 2024; the objection requirement related to the amended decision which was duly objected to.
The appeal challenged the Director's answer of 19 November 2024 dismissing the appellant's objection to the revised award of 16 September 2024. Section 51 WIBA required an objection within 60 days of the decision aggrieved; the appellant objected to the amended decision, and the objection was admitted and determined. Section 52(2) then permitted an appeal within 30 days of the Director's reply. Filing on 16 December 2024 fell within that window, so the time-bar argument founded on the original 15 July 2024 decision failed.
Whether the Kshs. 120,000.00 was a deductible advance payment rather than non-deductible funeral expenses
The Director erred: the sum was an advance payment refundable from the assessed insurance amount, and the employer had separately paid reasonable funeral expenses, so credit for the advance should have been given in the final settlement.
The respondent's own signed note of 18 October 2023, undisputed in the reply to the memorandum of appeal, described the Kshs. 120,000 as refundable from the final insurance settlement. The response also did not controvert proof that the appellant had paid Kshs. 238,000 for funeral, post-mortem and medical bills. Section 34(4) obliges the employer to pay reasonable funeral expenses in addition to compensation; having done so, the employer was entitled to credit for the advance under the final settlement, making the Director's application of section 34(2) erroneous.
Legal principles established
#- An employer who has already paid reasonable funeral expenses under section 34(4) WIBA is entitled to credit for an advance payment in the final settlement.
- Where an objector was only aggrieved by the Director's amended/revised decision, the time for objection and appeal runs from that amended decision, not the original one.
Court orders
#- 1.The appeal is allowed and the decision of the Director dated 19th November 2024 is set aside
- 2.The objection dated 14th November 2024 is allowed
- 3.No order as to costs against the respondent's estate; the appeal is dismissed with no order as to costs
- 4.The file is marked as closed
- On appeal from
- Director of Occupational Safety and Health Services
- Civil Suit No. 617 of 2023
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Section 52(2) of the Work Injury Benefits Act No. 13 of 2007 - appeal from the Director's reply to an objection under Section 51
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Priyguru Limited v Tuyisenge (Suing as an Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Emmanuel Ndayizeye) (Employment and Labour Relations Appeal E356 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 2135 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Civil Suit No. 617 of 2023 (Appeal from Director of Occupational Safety and Health Services). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/2135/eng@2025-07-18
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.