Labour court to hear former Kemri boss’ Sh125m dispute 

A dispute between Dr Davy Koech and his former employer Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) will now be heard by Employment and Labour Relations court, seven years after he filed the case.

While directing the case to be heard by the Labour Court, the Appellate Court declined to strike out the matter, as pleaded by Kemri and instead said it would be suitable for the matter to be heard by the employment court.

TERMINATION

Dr Koech, who was sacked in August 2007, sued Kemri claiming damages of Sh124.8 million. He accused Kemri of unlawful termination and lost employment opportunities.

When he filed the case in 2010, Dr Koech moved to the Commercial division of the High Court but Kemri challenged the decision saying the court did not have the jurisdiction to hear it then.

JURISDICTION

The employer argued that since the suit related to a claim for terminal dues, Commercial division of the High Court has no jurisdiction to deal with the employment disputes. This, Kemri argued, is a preserve of the Employment and Labour Relations court.

DISMISSED

But Justice Kihara Kariuki (then High Court Judge) dismissed the application saying Dr Koech had pleaded general damages for defamation arising from what he claimed as tarnished name and reputation.

The Judge reasoned that under the Labour Institutions Act 2007 and the Employment Act 2007, the Industrial Court did not have jurisdiction to hear and determine defamation matters. He added that it would be absurd to expect him to file the two claims (one for wrongful dismissal in the Industrial Court and the other one as a claim for defamation in the High Court) in different courts.

ARGUING

Kemri appealed against the decision arguing that the matter was filed in the wrong court and the case ought to be struck out.

In the ruling, Justices Philip Waki, Mohamed Warsame and Agnes Murgor said the correct approach to adopt would be ordering for the case to be transferred to the Employment and Labour court since the case is yet to be determined.

MANDATE

“Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed and we do not strike out the suit for want of jurisdiction. Instead, we order that the High Court shall transfer the suit to the Employment and Labour Relations Court for hearing and determination,” the Judges said.

They said that considering that Dr Koech claimed that his employer injured to his person by way of defamation, Justice (retired) Kariuki had the requisite mandate with which to determine the dispute. Before he was shown the door, Dr Koech had worked for Kemri for 30 years and was then earning a consolidated salary together with benefits of Sh622,290.