Local lender, African Banking Corporation (ABC) has been penalised by a court for frustrating an ex-employee until he quit his job.
Mr Peter Musyoka Muli resigned from ABC Bank on January 12, 2018, on claims of coercion, sabotage, frustration, pressure, and undue influence from the top management of the lender which rendered his employment difficult and untenable.
In agreement with a case where Mr Muli had sought compensation for unlawful and unfair termination of a contract of service, the Employment and Labour Relations Court said the sacking was improper.
“From the foregoing, it is discernible that the respondent (ABC Bank), by default or design engaged in a consistent course of conduct which impacted on the claimant negatively and which culminated in his resignation from employment. In the court’s view, the respondent’s conduct was the proxima causa of the claimant’s resignation” Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Jacob Gakeri said.
“For the above-stated reasons, it is the finding of the court that the claimant has on a balance of probability demonstrated that he was constructively dismissed by the respondent,” the Judge said.
Constructive dismissal is whereby an employee’s exit is triggered by an employer who makes one’s working conditions so intolerable that the employee feels compelled to leave. Consequently, the employee is rendered unemployed under the misconduct of the employer.
Mr Muli told the court that his troubles at ABC Bank started in 2014 after a top manager tried to link with the falsification of documents—a claim he denied. He was reported to the Heads of Human Resources and Finance on October 3, 2014, and October 8, 2014, respectively and the issue was not properly addressed. The bank staff revisited the matter on December 14, 2017.
Due to frustration, the senior accounting officer in the Finance department asked for a transfer to one of the bank’s designated units in June 2017 at the same rank but was instead transferred to a new Department on November 21, 2017, as a reliever-customer service representative which prejudiced his career development and exposed him to the risk of underperformance.
Mr Muli declined the transfer on November 27, 2017, and consulted a lawyer to contest the transfer by a letter dated December 1, 2017.
He tendered his resignation and was called to a meeting on February 12, 2018, where ABC Bank’s Heads of Finance Human Resources and the Manager, Human Resources urged him to reconsider the decision and seek a mutual way forward.
The court awarded Mr Muli Sh303,525 and the cost of the suit.
