In the Sendwave-WorldRemit corporate merger, Kenyan workers exposed discriminatory layoffs. 127 former Sendwave employees claim they faced unfair terminations.
They anticipated the advantages of long-term employment, with jobs expected to last until their retirement.
Redundancy informed these workers of their impending job loss on May 16, 2023. However, they claim they received no warning, no opportunity to defend themselves, and no valid reasons for termination.
On the same day, they were locked out of their workstations and later got a letter saying they were being let go because the company wanted to use more technology and less human power, especially in customer care.
Mostly staffed by Kenyans, the Customer Care department faced the brunt of these dismissals, leading to the termination of the entire department.
However, the employees think this is just an excuse, and they find it fishy that the company said it was cutting down on customer care staff but also fired people from other departments like accounting and screening.
They also didn’t get personal notices about the redundancy, which they should have by law. The company was still hiring people from other countries, so they think the firing was just a sneaky way to replace them with cheaper labor from places with less strict work laws.
Hon. Justice Linnet Ndolo ruled in favour of the claimants, concluding that their termination was unlawful and discriminatory.
The judge found that the claimants’ termination violated Article 27 of the Kenyan Constitution, which guarantees equality and freedom from discrimination. The employer, Sendwave Limited, failed to provide substantive reasons for the redundancy and did not follow due process in issuing redundancy notices.
Despite the recent court judgement awarding them only one month’s salary, the employees are determined to appeal the decision.
Many of the employees had families to look after and had taken out loans, which some people were unable to repay.
“The judge awarded a one-month salary in March’s verdict. Due to their labour laws, our colleagues from Canada and the US received well-compensated salaries, but here, they treated us as if we didn’t matter. Kenyans made up the majority of the department,” an insider claimed.