The Employment and Labour Relations Court has awarded a former general manager of Kwale International Sugar Company Limited more than KSh9.2 million after finding that she was forced to work for 17 months without receiving a salary, a situation the judge said reduced her to conditions resembling “slavery.”
Justice Monica Mbaru held that Pamela Adhiambo Ogada was constructively dismissed after the company persistently failed to pay her salary and later instructed her to resign when she raised concerns about the welfare of employees who had gone months without pay.
The court heard that Ogada continued reporting to work and carrying out her duties despite not being paid for 17 consecutive months. During that period, she also accumulated unpaid leave and struggled to meet basic expenses, including medical bills and school fees.
A key piece of evidence was an email she sent to management describing employees as “working enslaved people” because they continued working despite receiving no wages. Instead of addressing the concerns, the company’s director instructed her to stop sending what he termed “abusive emails” and to resign immediately.
The company argued that financial difficulties, litigation and operational challenges prevented it from paying employees. However, the court ruled that financial hardship is not a legal excuse for failing to pay workers and said the employer should have declared redundancy if it could no longer sustain its workforce.
“The employee who wakes up every day to attend work with the legitimate expectation that he/she has earned his labour and the reward is a salary at the end of the month, is reduced to ‘slavery’ when such a date arrives, and there is no pay,” Justice Mbaru stated.
The court awarded Ogada KSh6.6 million in salary arrears for the 17 months, KSh313,223 for accrued leave, KSh389,137 in notice pay and KSh1.95 million as compensation for unfair termination, bringing the total award to more than KSh9.2 million.
