EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Our lawyers advise on all employment law issues, whether contentious or non-contentious, offering a high quality and rapid-response service. We also work with employers to create individually designed contracts, policies and HR procedures. We have advised on matters ranging from sensitive severance issues to issues of corporate governance and more standard disciplinary and grievance issues.
We act mainly for employers – including large public companies, SMEs and Not-for-profit entities. We also act for many international corporations and are experienced in co-ordinating employment advice across jurisdictions for corporate transactional work.
We also specialise in employee benefits and all types of employee share scheme and cash bonus arrangements. We have advised a variety of multinationals on introducing global share schemes involving Kenyan aspects. Our team is well versed with the retirement benefits legislation and has advised several large listed and unlisted public companies on their employee pension and provident schemes.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- Successfully represented the Kenya Tea Growers Association in the Court of Appeal in respect of an appeal against a decision by the Employment Court awarding a 30% wage increase. The Court of Appeal delivered a landmark decision reducing the wage increase to 16% and awarded a productivity increase for tea pluckers to 1170 kilograms per month. The Court of Appeal award for productivity is a game changer in the tea industry which has been battling high labour costs impacting on the viability of tea production in the country.
- Successfully defended Unilever Tea Kenya Limited (UTKL) a subsidiary of Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, involved in the production of tea mainly for export in an industrial cause filed by Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union against UTKL for pa precedent setting litigation for payment of extra pay in respect of rest days for over 10,000 piece rated employees and compensation for alleged violation of the Kenyan employment laws, the parties Collective Bargaining Agreement and International labour practices. UTKL is the single largest private sector employer in Kenya, employing about 20,000 people.
- Establishment of retirement benefit schemes and provident funds compliant with the RBA Act for: Amedo Centre, Eveready East Africa, James Finlay, Bata Shoe Company, BAT, Eastern produce, Kenya Breweries Limited.
- We advise clients on various aspects of employment law including – redundancies, termination and dismissal cases and industrial relations labour disputes.
- We have advised a number of large corporations on employee share ownership schemes.
