Last Change:

02/26/2025

The Employment Act

Year: 2007

Type: Domestic law

Rights Category: Work & Workplace rights

Description

The Employment Act, 2007 of Kenya establishes comprehensive legal standards for employment relationships, ensuring the protection of workers' rights and regulating employer-employee interactions. The Act covers key areas such as employment contracts, wages, working hours, leave entitlements, termination procedures, and prohibition of discrimination and forced labor. It safeguards the rights of women and minors, sets standards for workplace conditions, and outlines dispute resolution mechanisms. Additionally, it provides for the employment of foreign nationals under specific permits and emphasizes compliance with labor standards. The Act promotes fairness, equity, and dignity in the workplace while fostering productive labor relations.

Selected provisions
Article 2 Interpretation.

“child” means a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years.

“worst form of child labor” with respect to juveniles, means their employment, engagement or usage in any activity comprising of— (a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried.

Article 56 - Prohibition of employment of children between thirteen years and sixteen years of age

(1) No person shall employ a child who has not attained the age of thirteen years whether gainfully or otherwise in any undertaking.
(2) A child of between thirteen years of age and sixteen years of age may be employed to perform light work which is— (a) not likely to be harmful to the child’s health or development; and (b) not such as to prejudice the child’s attendance at school, his participation in vocational orientation or training programs approved by the Minister or his capacity to benefit from the instructions received.
(3) The Minister may make rules prescribing light work in which a child of between thirteen years of age and sixteen years of age may be employed and the terms and conditions of that employment.

Article 53.1 - Prohibition of worst forms of child labour

Notwithstanding any provision of any written law, no person shall employ a child in any activity which constitutes worst form of child labor.

Article 58.2 - Restriction in employing child of between thirteen and sixteen years of age to attend machinery

No person shall employ a child in any opencast workings or sub-surface workings that are entered by means of a shaft or adit.

Article 59 - Time restriction in employing a child

(1) Subject to section 60, no person shall employ a child in an industrial undertaking between the hours of 6.30 p.m. and 6.30 a.m.
(2) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1), a person may employ a male young person in cases of emergencies which could not have been controlled or foreseen, and which interfere with the normal working of the industrial undertaking, and which are not of a periodical nature.
(3) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (1), the Minister may, after consultation with the Board, authorize an employer in writing to employ a young person for a specific period of the night subject to such conditions as the Minister may determine.

Article 64 - Penalty for unlawful employment of child

(1) A person who employs, engages, or uses a child in an industrial undertaking in contravention of the provisions of this Part, commits an offence.
(2) A person who uses a child in any activity constituting worst form of child labour commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both.
(3) It shall be a defense if the accused person proves that he genuinely had reason to believe that the child was above the age limit, which is the subject of the charge.

Article 3 - Application

(1) This Act shall apply to all employees employed by any employer under a contract of service.
(2) This Act shall not apply to—
(a) the armed forces or the reserve as respectively defined in the Armed Forces Act (Cap. 199);
(b) the Kenya Police, the Kenya Prisons Service or the Administration Police Force; (c) the National Youth Service; and
(d) an employer and the employer’s dependents where the dependents are the only employees in a family undertaking.

Article 45 - Unfair termination

(1) No employer shall terminate the employment of an employee unfairly;
(2) A termination of employment by an employer is unfair if the employer fails to prove—
(a) that the reason for the termination is valid;
(b) that the reason for the termination is a fair reason—
(i) related to the employee’s conduct, capacity or compatibility; or
(ii) based on the operational requirements of the employer; and
(c) that the employment was terminated in accordance with fair procedure;
(3) An employee who has been continuously employed by his employer for a period not less than thirteen months immediately before the date of termination shall have the right to complain that he has been unfairly terminated;
A termination of employment shall be unfair for the purposes of this Part where—
(a) the termination is for one of the reasons specified in section 46; or
(b) it is found out that in all the circumstances of the case, the employer did not act in accordance with justice and equity in terminating the employment of the employee;
(5) In deciding whether it was just and equitable for an employer to terminate the employment of an employee, for the purposes of this section, a labor officer, or the Industrial Court shall consider—
(a) the procedure adopted by the employer in reaching the decision to dismiss the employee, the communication of that decision to the employee and the handling of any appeal against the decision;
(b) the conduct and capability of the employee up to the date of termination;
(c) the extent to which the employer has complied with any statutory requirements connected with the termination, including the issuing of a certificate under section 51 and the procedural requirements set out in section 41;
(d) the previous practice of the employer in dealing with the type of circumstances which led to the termination; and
(e) the existence of any pervious warning letters issued to the employee.

Article 46 - Reasons for termination or discipline

The following do not constitute fair reasons for dismissal or for the imposition of a disciplinary penalty—
(a) a female employee’s pregnancy, or any reason connected with her pregnancy;
(b) the going on leave of an employee, or the proposal of an employee to take, any leave to which he was entitled under the law or a contract;
(c) an employee’s membership or proposed membership of a trade union;
(d) the participation or proposed participation of an employee in the activities of a trade union outside working hours or, with the consent of the employer, within working hours;
(e) an employee’s seeking of office as, or acting or having acted in the capacity of, an officer of a trade union or a workers’ representative;
(f) an employee’s refusal or proposed refusal to join or withdraw from a trade union.

Article 47 - Complaint of summary dismissal and unfair termination

(1) Where an employee has been summarily dismissed or his employer has unfairly terminated his employment without justification, the employee may, within three months of the date of dismissal, present a complaint to a labour officer and the complaint shall be dealt with as a complaint lodged under section 87;
(2) A labour officer who is presented with a claim under this section shall, after affording every opportunity to both the employee and the employer to state their case, recommend to the parties what in his opinion would be the best means of settling the dispute in accordance with the provisions of section 49;
(3) The right of the employee to present a complaint under this section shall be in addition to his right to complain to the Industrial Court on the same issue and to the right to complain of any other infringement of his statutory rights;
(4) The right of an employee to make a complaint under this section shall be in addition to any right an employee may enjoy under a collective agreement;
(5) For any complaint of unfair termination of employment or wrongful dismissal the burden of proving that an unfair termination of employment or wrongful dismissal has occurred shall rest on the employee, while the burden of justifying the grounds for the termination of employment or wrongful dismissal shall rest on the employer;
(6) No employee whose services have been terminated or who has been summarily dismissed during a probationary contract shall make a complaint under this section.

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