5 Tricks Most Employers will Use to Avoid Being Sued For Unfair Termination/Dismissal From an Employment Law Lawyer

Under the Kenyan Labour Laws, burden is normally on the employee to prove unfair termination/dismissal, the Employer only comes in to justify. Furthermore, under the Evidence Act, the burden of proof in a court case is on that person who would fail if no evidence at all was given on either side.This means as an employee seeking to sue for unfair termination or dismissal you must have the evidence to prove your case. Most employers have mastered this art and will often ensure there is minimal or no evidence at all. In this article, I will share 5 tricks that most employers use to avoid being sued for unfair termination/dismissal.

1. Avoiding Written Employment Contracts

Remember, employment contracts will often contain both employer and employee rights, responsibilities and obligations. This means without it, it will be hard to prove unfair termination/dismissal actually happened.

2. Paying Salary in Cash to avoid paper trails

Most employers will often pay your salary in cash.Remember, before you claim unfair termination/dismissal, you must show there was an employer-employee relationship. If your employer pays your salary in cash, proving they were your employer becomes harder.

3. Avoiding any form of written communications like emails

Most employers will never communicate to their employees via written communication. This way, you will never have evidence against them for unfair termination/dismissal or even a way of proving the employer-employee relationship.

4. Avoiding any form of statutory payments i.e Payee, NHIF, NSSF

This is a common trick used by a lot of employers. They know this in itself even without an employment contract, is prove of employer-employee relationship. They therefore avoid it.

5. Making Employees Sign Waiver or Consent Agreements

There are employers upon terminating your services, will proceed to make you sign a waiver agreement or consent stating that you will not sue them. Remember, agreements are binding, if you proceed to sign and waive your rights, you cannot latter claim ignorance. Ignorance is not a defence in law.

I hope this article has been informative. My advice to Kenyan employees is to always seek legal advice. For consultations you can reach out to us through info@ruthtanuiadvocates.co.ke or call/text 0714457082. You can also check out our website at www.ruthtanuiadvocates.co.ke .

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