Court Bars Standard Group From Slashing Employee Salaries

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has barred Standard Media Group from slashing its employees’ salaries.

This is after the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) filed a petition at the Milimani Law Courts.

Justice S. Radido on Friday certified the  application as urgent and issued the following orders:

 “That pending hearing and determination of this Application, this Honourable Court do grant an order of temporary injunction restraining the Respondent from effecting wage/salary deduction in respect of its employees who are the Claimant’s unionisable members.”

The Court also granted an ‘order of mandatory injunction compelling Standard Group to refund to the unionisable members of the Claimant all the amounts already deducted from their salaries/wages.

In the petition dated 14 April 2020, KUJ had indicated that Standard Group in its memo dated 7th April 2020, was in the process of ‘unilaterally effecting a wage/salary deduction in respect of all its employees’ a process which in our view, “Was being done tot he detriment and prejudice of the claimant’s members and without any consultations with the Claimant.”

“That the unilateral decision of the respondents if left to persist will exacerbate the misery, hardship, and inconvenience already occasioned upon the Claimant members by the prevalent COVID-19 pandemic, which has meant that they must go an extra mile to protect their families and loved ones from contracting the disease.”

KUJ had further stated that the unilateral alteration of wages and salaries of the Claimants members by the Respondent is not only a blatant breach of the terms of the recognition agreement and the collective bargaining agreement, but also the rights of the Claimants under Article 41 (1), (2) a &b but as well as the provisions of the Employment Act.

The Inter partes hearing is slated for May 13.