SDA church to pay Sh800K for firing employee over alleged office romance

Court Gavel. [Courtesy] The Employment and Labour Relations Court has ordered a church to pay its former employee over Sh800,000 after finding that she was unfairly dismissed due to an alleged relationship with a colleague. Justice Ann Mwaure in her judgment said that the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA), Central Rift Valley Conference's reason for terminating Jescah Gesare's employment was invalid and unprocedural. She observed that the church called her to attend a commission for questioning before she was forced to resign, and when she refused, it fired her. Even after being sued, the church never responded. "The respondent having not filed a response or tendered evidence in court did not contravene the claimant's claim. They failed, therefore, in twin tests of providing substantive justification in giving a valid reason for termination and procedural fairness," said Justice Mwaure. Gesare narrated that she was initially employed on a contractual basis from 2014. She added that the church confirmed her on a permanent and pensionable basis on November 23, 2016, and subsequently promoted her to a conference internal auditor. She further explained that her work was exemplary and that she had a good working relationship with her colleagues. Nevertheless, Gesare added that despite her strong work ethic and performance, to her dismay, the church wrote her a show cause letter dated May 28, 2023, alleging that she had a romantic relationship with a colleague, who was not her lawfully married husband. Perturbed by the accusations, Gesare said she responded the following day, contesting the grave claims and maintaining her innocence. She said that on June 5, SDA suspended her from office for three months, claiming that it was investigating the issue. The church then invited her to appear before the investigations commission on July 2, 2023, which she did. SDA's executive committee wrote to her two months later after the meeting. It claimed that it was convinced that the allegations against her were factual. The court heard that it was alleged that she did not prove otherwise, and that she had allegedly confirmed that the person she was being accused of being in a romantic relationship with regularly came to her house. Gesare said she again wrote to the church on September 16, 2023, and reiterated her innocence. However, the church turned to coercion. She said that it dangled her benefits to force her to resign. She told the court that she hoped to work for the church until retirement but was kicked out over unfounded and flimsy grounds. According to Gesare, the church's internal wrangles made things worse as she could not seek to resolve the issue through the internal dispute resolution mechanism. She said that when her lawyers wrote to the church, they denied everything in addition to clinging to the General Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist East Central Africa Division regulations on solving disputes. She argued that the dismissal was driven by malice, bad faith, and procedural irregularities, including the fabrication of reasons for her dismissal, a lack of formal complaints regarding her performance, and the exclusion of key individuals from the allegations against her. Gesare had asked the court to award her Sh9.9 million for unfair termination.

SDA church to pay Sh800K for firing employee over alleged office romance

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SDA church to pay Sh800K for firing employee over alleged office romance

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