Ndiga v Aquavita Limited (Cause E689 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 2195 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court ruled that leave pay, house allowance and commission claims must be filed within twelve months or they are permanently time-barred.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Limitation under Section 89 of the Employment Act - continuing wrong
The claims for leave pay, house allowance and sales commission are in the nature of continuing injuries and accrued on the effective date of resignation; filed more than twelve months later, they are statute barred.
The court adopted the Court of Appeal's distinction between a continuing wrong (a single wrongful act causing continuing injury) and recurring/successive wrongs, per the German School Society case. It found no dispute on the resignation date and no argument that any other date was the accrual date. Service claims such as leave, house allowance and commissions are treated as continuing wrongs, so the twelve-month limitation applied and the claims were filed out of time.
Sustainability of the preliminary objection
The objection was sustained as a pure point of law since the accrual date was not in contest.
Relying on Mukisa Biscuit, a preliminary objection must raise a pure point of law on the assumption that pleaded facts are not contested. The Claimant cited Oraro v Mbaja for the proposition that issues entangled with contested facts cannot sustain an objection, but here the parties agreed the resignation date and accrual date, leaving a pure question of law on limitation, which the court answered in the Respondent's favour.
Legal principles established
#- Claims for leave pay, house allowance and commissions in service disputes are continuing wrongs under the latter part of Section 89 of the Employment Act and must be filed within twelve months of accrual
- Once claims are statute barred, the Court has no jurisdiction to entertain them
Court orders
#- 1.The claims for leave pay, house allowance and sales commissions are struck out
- 2.Costs in the cause
- 3.Orders accordingly
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Employment Act, Section 89 (limitation of employment claims)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Ndiga v Aquavita Limited (Cause E689 of 2024) [2025] KEELRC 2195 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in the excerpt. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/2195/eng@2025-07-24
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.