Othoo v Aga Khan Education Service Kenya & another (Constitutional Petition E108 of 2022) [2025] KEELRC 2995 (KLR)

Section 4 of the Basic Education Act and article 53 of the Constitution outlaw corporal punishment against children. The Petitioner admitted caning a minor for failure to return homework, and his attempt to disown the admission in cross-examination was rejected. His conduct contravened the law and the employer's policies regardless of the punishment being light, giving the employer a substantive ground to consider terminating the contract.

The Petitioner was served with the invitation to the disciplinary hearing at 4.40 PM on 2nd June 2022 for a hearing the following morning, leaving him less than two working hours to prepare and secure witnesses. The Respondents' minutes were unsigned and thus unreliable proof that he did not object. Applying the Supreme Court's decision in JSC v LMN, the process violated article 47 and the dismissal was procedurally unfair.

House allowance is a statutory benefit under section 31 of the Employment Act. An employer may consolidate it with salary but must specifically state so in the contract. The term 'consolidated' alone does not disclose what was consolidated. Absent a clear clause, the employer failed to prove payment of house allowance, and the claim is not time-barred since time runs from termination. The Petitioner is awarded 15% of basic salary for 41 months of service.

The court gave two reasons: first, constitutional petitions are not subject to statutory limitation periods but only to the equitable doctrine of laches, and no undue delay was demonstrated. Second, per the Court of Appeal in G4S Security Services, time for suits to recover accrued employment benefits runs from the date of termination; the Petitioner sued within three years of his June 2022 dismissal.