Former employee seeks Sh10m compensation

By WAHOME THUKU

A former senior manager with multinational pharmaceutical company Unilever Kenya is seeking more than Sh10 million compensation for alleged unlawful dismissal.

Thomas Mbugua, a former projects manager, has sued the company at the Industrial Court in Nairobi seeking to have the termination in September last year declared unlawful. He also wants Unilever Kenya compelled to pay him more than Sh9.6 million in dues and costs of the suit. He wants Sh2 million as salary for unlawful termination and Sh4 million as damages for mental and emotional anguish, harassment at workplace as well as malicious and unfair treatment.

Mr Mbugua, who was employed by Unilever Kenya in November 2005, was the head of an international project known as Vertice, which was co-ordinated by Unilever sister company in Dubai and implemented by the multinational in North and Central Africa.

In his suit papers, Mbugua claims he was dismissed on September 29 after several threats from one of his seniors. He claims the engineering manager first threatened him with dismissal on June 30, last year for poor performance.

Neglect of responsibility

Two weeks before the sacking, the company had written to him thanking him for "valuable contribution towards making Unilever Kenya an execution powerhouse".

Mbugua says he was shocked and dismayed when on September 11, 2011 he received an e-mail and a memo requiring him to show cause why he could not be disciplined for neglect of responsibility.

But Unilever Kenya maintains that the sacking was proper, as Mbugua had failed to perform his duties competently. He was required to undertake a lead role of the project in Kenya, but had performed dismally.

The company claims that he was paid all his dues amounting to Sh204,462 and was not entitled to any other payments. The case will be heard next month.