The Employment and Labour Relations Court has ordered the management of Moi University to pay a former lecturer at the institution Ksh. 999,050 as compensation after her contract was terminated prematurely in December 2016, the ruling was delivered by Judge M.A. Onyango on July 13, 2023.
The lecturer had filed a claim on October 23, 2017, seeking orders for the institution to pay her terminal dues. In her statement, she stated that she was employed in December 2013 as an external part-time lecturer to lecture education courses at the university’s campus at Mogotio in Baringo County until August 2016, when the university closed the said campus without any official communication whatsoever to her, thereby bringing her engagement to an abrupt end.
She argued in her case that as per the terms of her employment, she was entitled to be paid a transport allowance at the rate of Ksh. 1000 per day for lecturing at the university’s Mogotio Campus and was further entitled to be paid a transport allowance at the rate of Ksh, 4000 per month for lecturing at the university’s Nakuru Campus.
She further contends that despite her employment with the university having ended sometime in December 2016, she has not been paid a cent. But the university in a quick rejoinder filed its response to the claim on January 31, 2018.
Interestingly, the university denied that it ever employed her. She, however, convinced the court revealing that in Mogotio, her supervisors were Professor Catherine Kiprop, and after she left, Dr. Zipporah Komen took over. She stated that on the Nakuru campus, her direct supervisor was Prof. Anne Kisilu. Interestingly, she testified that she was never issued a letter of appointment by the university despite her teaching and setting exams and that payments were made as per the university’s policy.
The judge noted that the lecturer was employed by the respondent as a part-time lecturer at the Mogotio and Nakuru campuses. She produced the email correspondence between herself and her supervisors and also the letter dated June 12, 2016, addressed to the head of the department, Dr. David Wanyonyi, allocating her work. She further produced evidence that she set and marked exams, among them question papers and mark sheets.
The judge noted, “I have carefully considered the breakdown of the payments together with the undergraduate part-time payments form attached to the Claimants bundle, which states the rate of payments including teaching allowance at Ksh. 1000 per hour, setting and marking at Ksh. 1000 per hour, and Ksh. 20 per script for marking, transport, and accommodation allowance. I therefore award the claimant the sum of Ksh. 999,050 as prayed.”
