Methodist church faces auction over unpaid Sh 2.5 million court award

Former presiding bishops induct Rev. Isaiah Deye (far right) as the 7th presiding bishop of the Methodist Church in Kenya on September 3, 2023 at the Methodist Resort and Conference Centre, Nairobi. [Denis Kibuchi, Standard] The Methodist Church in Kenya is facing auction over Sh2.5 million owed to a former employee. Daniel Mutiria sued the church and its presiding bishop in 2017 after he was sacked months after an enticing offer that forced him to quit from another job. He was awarded Sh1.3 million as compensation for unfair termination. In addition, Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Ocharo Kebira awarded him Sh1.2 million as 28 months' salary. Mutiria has now contracted auctioneers to sell off the church's items to recover the court award. He was seeking Sh2.6 million as salary and Sh980,000 as compensation for alleged underpayment. Mutiria told the court that he was hired by the church on April 10, 2014, as a security manager. He was to handle all security matters of the Methodist Ministries Centre. In the deal, he was offered Sh40,000 monthly pay, Sh30,000 as house allowance, a responsibility allowance of Sh12,000, and Sh13,630 as traveling allowance. Mutiria claimed that he had raised concern that the amount was below Sh65,000 basic pay he used to earn at Intercity Secure Homes Ltd. He was declared redundant on March 6, 2015. The court heard that Methodist had restructured its operations. He said that he was paid Sh253,822 as final dues. The man told court that although his redundancy letter indicated that his position had ceased to exist, Methodist employed a lady to take up the position. Mutiria argued that the church lured him from his former employer through misrepresentation, only to terminate his employment wrongfully. He lamented that his career and earning expectations were dashed despite the security at the church's headquarters having improved. The court heard that Mutiria had been given a three-year contract. Asked about who he had discussed with the salary raise, he named then presiding Bishop Joseph Ntombura who has since left. He claimed that the then head of the church had promised to have a pay raise in three months. On the other hand, the church listed its then bishop Ntombura, Gatobu Muthamia and Dorothy Kinya as witnesses. Ntombura in his evidence admitted that the church had appointed Mutiria as a security manager for a three-year fixed contract. The man of cloth said that in February 2015, he had a lengthy conversation with Mutiria and informed him that he wished to have a security firm handle the services. According to Ntombura, Mutiria was declared redundant on the basis of outsourcing the services he was offering to the church. He also said that since Mutiria had accumulated 30 leave days and he was allowed to take the days up to April 22, 2015. Ntombura said he was also paid his terminal dues. The former Methodist Presiding bishop said that the employee cleared and left without raising any issue about the termination. Ntombura informed Mutiria that Intercity Security will take over in his absence. On the salary raise, he said that they had promised Mutiria that the same would be implemented if there were available funds. He said the lady claimed to have been manning the premises was not running the security firm, instead, she was only acting as a link between Methodist and the Intercity Security firm as she did not have any security training. Muthamia, a former property manager working with the church told the court that Mutiria had accepted to leave by signing the handover document. Kinya, a finance manager said that although he had stated in her affidavit that there was a meeting and deliberations about the redundancy, she was not present. Justice Ocharo found that there were no prior consultations over the redundancy. He said it was clear that the church had a pre-determined end game of letting him go. The Judge found that there was no notice filed before the labour office as required by law. "Undeniably, the law does not recognise employment for life, however, the social balance struck in the context of a constitutional regime in which the right to fair Labour Practices is a fundamental right is to afford an employee the right not to be unfairly dismissed and the employer the right to dismiss an employee for a fair reason provided that a fair procedure is followed," Justice Ocharo said.

Methodist church faces auction over unpaid Sh 2.5 million court award

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Methodist church faces auction over unpaid Sh 2.5 million court award

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