Clinical officers sue Meru over unpaid December salaries

What you need to know:

  • Through lawyer Kamau Kuria, they say Meru should be held in contempt of court as the workers obeyed a December 9, 2019 directive to resume work, so they should not be victimised.
  • The clinical officers are apprehensive that if unrestrained, the county will sack the 177 Meru branch members.
  • They want the county ordered to pay the December salaries and be restrained from failing to pay the January salaries.

Clinical officers have sued Meru County in pursuit of unpaid December salaries for more than 100 medics, who took part in a nationwide strike.

Through lawyer Kamau Kuria, they said Meru should be held in contempt of court as the workers obeyed a December 9, 2019 directive to resume work, so they should not be victimised.

Moses Baiyenia, the county's Secretary-General of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers, earlier said that six people on maternity leave and 15 on study leave were among those affected.

The case, filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Meru, was certified as urgent and will be heard in Nairobi Friday.

FEARS

The clinical officers are apprehensive that if unrestrained, the county will sack the 177 Meru branch members.

They want the county ordered to pay the December salaries and be restrained from failing to pay the January salaries.

Mr Kuria urged the court to consider the plight of the medics and stop the contempt of court proceedings that began after the county alleged that they skipped work.

He said the medics were wrongly punished since they obeyed the court order and ended their strike.

“The non-payment is outrageous when one bears in mind that the court ordered them to resume work and they did so on December 16, 2019. The county is happy to consume their services but not to pay for them."