Former employee wins dismissal suit

An unwritten company rule, described by a judge as oppressive and unreasonable, restricted employees from using a vehicle acquired through company loan, with their family members. Again, the car could not leave the confines of Nairobi.

Narrating her story soon after a judge at the Industrial Court declared her sacking unlawful, Ms Mugambi could not hide her joy. “I am happy with the decision. I hope it will not happen to others,” she said.

Ms Mugambi, a mother of two worked for Booksfirst company Ltd as a supervisor for nine years before her sacking in August last year. Her troubles started when she bought a car belonging to the company’s general manager Anne Randiki for Sh600,000.

In the agreement, the car would be paid for through deductions from her salary. By the time she left her job, she had repaid Sh500,000.

The company would deduct Sh10,000 every month until payment in full. Ms Mugambi said that when she was about to deliver her second baby, the car was forcibly repossessed from her because it was wrong for her to park the vehicle at her home.

While it was being repossessed, she thought the car would be safely parked at the company offices until she returned but she was shocked to discover that the vehicle was being used to ferry company materials outside Nairobi and for running office errands.

She was given back the vehicle and she had to do repairs worth Sh65,000. Her employer refused to refund the money.

Another shocker awaited Ms Mugambi in August last year when her father was taken ill in Isiolo town.

Because she could not raise about Sh67,000 required for the hospital bill, she asked her colleagues to help raise the money.

“It was a tradition among us to assist each other,” she said, adding that for employees who did not have money, would pledge to donate but the money would taken from the office petty cash. The money would be recovered from employees salaries at the end of the month.

She managed to raise Sh55,000 and took Sh30,000 from the office kitty and headed for Isiolo. She drew a cash voucher from the till and got authorisation from the general manager, Ms Randiki.

She left Nairobi using her car but on reaching Thika town, she received a call from Ms Randiki demanding that she leaves the car in Nairobi for office use.

“I said it was impossible because I was on my way to see my father but the following day a driver was sent to pick the vehicle from my home,” she said. She was also threatened with the sack while being accused of stealing Sh30,000.

She was later called by policemen from Kileleshwa Police Station asking her why she ran away with the company vehicle.

“They gave me 30 minutes to return the car,” she said.

She drove back to Nairobi and upon consulting officers at Central Police station, she drove the car to Karen police station, a station near her work place at Ngong road.

When she reported two days later, she was dismissed. Among the reasons for her sacking was that she allowed her husband to drive the ‘company car’.

“The truth is that he never drove the vehicle. On occasions that I worked until late in the night, he would hire a taxi and follow us home. But not in my vehicle,” she said.

Reasonable rules

In his ruling, Justice Paul Kosgei said it was not true that Ms Mugambi stole the money. The judge that Ms Mugambi prepared vouchers for accounting purposes.

“It was wrong for the respondent to exercise rights of control and management over a car yet its role in the acquisition was that of a financier. Its action was akin to those of a mortgage exercising rights of foreclosure under a mortgage before any default on the part of the mortgagor,” he said.

The judge added that whereas employers were at liberty to formulate rules to govern their relations with employees, they have a duty to formulate reasonable rules which take into account the interests of both employers and employees.

M Justice Kosgei ordered that she be paid damages for unlawful loss of employment, accrued leave days and special damages. The court also ordered she be refunded money deducted from her for the TV set.