The High Court has ruled that employers cannot prohibit romantic relationships or marriages between consenting employees. In a judgment delivered by Justice James Rika, the Court stated that workplace relationships should be allowed to take their natural course. The court awarded a former G4S security manager Kshs. 3.2 million for wrongful dismissal.
Justice Rika declared that policies banning sexual relationships at work are unconstitutional, as they violate employees’ privacy rights protected under Article 31 of the Constitution. He emphasized that romantic relationships are private matters, stating, “It is irrational to outlaw matters of the heart. Employers should allow relationships to flourish, like Bill and Melinda Gates, while employees remain productive in their roles.”
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by a former G4S operations branch manager, who was terminated on allegations of sexually harassing a female junior employee. The judge noted that preventing employees from pursuing romantic relationships would violate their right to be free from cruel and degrading treatment under Article 25(a) of the Constitution. He stated, “There is nothing more degrading than an employer interfering in a consensual relationship between two adults.”
The judge also said that if the relationship had led to a conflict of interest, G4S should have charged the claimant specifically for violating its conflict of interest policy. However, the claimant was neither investigated nor dismissed for any such violation.
Additionally, the court criticized G4S’s Sexual Harassment Policy, which required employees who marry to disclose their marriage to the company, with one spouse required to resign if the marriage took place after November 2020. Justice Rika found that this policy further violated constitutional rights.
The former G4S manager had worked for the company since 2000, and his contract was terminated in December 2020, after 20 years of service. The court noted that he was only eight years away from retirement and that G4S failed to provide a valid reason for his termination. The court ruled the dismissal was unfair and awarded him compensation equivalent to 12 months’ salary, totalling Kshs. 3,244,800.
The manager sued G4S in 2021, claiming that he had been employed as a management trainee in 2000 and promoted to regional operations manager in 2018. His contract was terminated on December 22, 2020, after accusations that he had influenced the transfer of a junior guard and made sexual advances toward her. He denied these claims, and after a DNA test initiated to determine if he had fathered the guard’s child proved negative, G4S still terminated his employment based on allegations of sexual harassment.
Justice Rika found that G4S had violated its own disciplinary procedures and the Employment Act. Although the company maintained the manager’s termination was justified, the court concluded that G4S had failed to show any valid reason for the dismissal.
G4S had argued that the manager had engaged in a sexual relationship with the guard in 2016 and 2017, fathering her child and influencing her job transfer. The company claimed that the guard lent the manager Kshs. 200,000, which he failed to repay. Despite these allegations, the court ruled in favour of the manager, finding that the termination process was flawed.
