Ex-staff sue Raila firm over Sh150m dues
What you need to know:
- They worked at Spectre International Limited that has not been in operation since 2017.
More than 116 former employees of a company linked to Raila Odinga have sued it for failure to pay them their dues totalling more than Sh150 million dating back to the year 2017.
The ex-staff worked at Spectre International Limited located along Kisumu-Busia Road that has not been in operation since 2017.
Spectre International Ltd is part of the flagship business of Mr Odinga, but the company is different from his other firm East African Spectre, the liquefied petroleum gas cylinder manufacturer based in Nairobi.
The ex-Spectre International workers are demanding a total of Sh73,592,868 salary arrears.
Some of the issues they are raising in the suit include failure to remit provident funds deducted from the claimants’ salaries totalling to Sh31,238,187.
In papers filed by their lawyer Moses Omondi, the workers are accusing the company of not remitting Sacco dues deducted from their salaries at Sh11,474,727 as well as severance pay after computation of the same and agreement of pay.
They claim that the company also owes them Sh35,669,847 being total redundancy pay for all the claimants.
“Despite demand and notice to sue being issued to the respondent, the company has refused to pay claimants their dues,” said Mr Omondi.
He pointed out that failure by the company to pay the employees their dues amounted to breach of employment contract.
Mr Dancun Abonyo who spoke on behalf of the former employees told Nation that they had explored other arbitration avenues before they settled on the court process.
“We took time and spoke with the management numerous times and the Ministry of Labour but nothing was done. We hope the courts will come to our rescue,” said Mr Abonyo.
DESPERATE
He said that some of the claimants have died from depression while some could not afford fare to bring them to court for hearing of the case.
He said that in 2017, the factory closed and all the employees who were rendered redundant left the facility but have not been paid to date.
“We are suffering. Some have been evicted from their houses because they can no longer afford rent,” said Mr Abonyo.
Kisumu Employment and Labor Relations Court Judge Justice Nduma Nderi Scheduled March 2 as the mention date.
