A long career on short contracts
The Employment and Labor Relations Court in Nakuru has delivered a decision that could open a serious conversation about short term contracts in Kenya’s public institutions. The case of Margaret Wanjiku Gichuki v Kenya Power and Lighting Company Plc turned into a strong reminder that fair labor practices are not optional even for big corporations that serve the public.
Margaret Wanjiku Gichuki joined Kenya Power in 2015 as a meter reader. Her employment was through a three-month contract that was renewed again and again. For eight years and two months she kept signing new short-term contracts while performing the same duties central to Kenya Power’s work. She was even promoted to act as a supervisor in charge of meter readers and revenue collection. Yet legally she was still called a temporary worker.
Dismissal and criminal trial
Her journey with the company ended abruptly in July 2023 when she was summarily dismissed. The dismissal letter accused her of taking part in an illegal connection of electricity lines in Shabab, Nakuru, and of using a stolen meter. She denied the allegations, saying she only helped a customer upgrade his connection as part of her normal work and that she did so in good faith. The matter turned into both an internal disciplinary process and a criminal case.
The Court record shows she faced investigations, was issued a show cause letter, attended a disciplinary hearing and later appealed. The Court accepted that Kenya Power followed the right procedure under the Employment Act. It found that the company had a valid reason to dismiss her because the investigations showed she had interacted with the customer involved in the illegal connection. The Court however separated the criminal case from the employment dispute. It said her acquittal in the criminal court did not change the outcome because the two processes were independent and the criminal case had collapsed only because the prosecution mishandled the file.
The Court’s turning point
Where the Court became firm was on how Kenya Power treated her employment for eight years. Justice Rika held that keeping an employee on short term contracts for that long amounted to exploitation and a violation of Article 41 of the Constitution, which guarantees fair labor practices. He said no public institution can justify such casualization of labor where the employee performs work that is permanent and central to the employer’s function. Meter reading, he said, is not temporary work.
The Court pointed out that under the Public Service Commission Act, public bodies are supposed to offer fixed term contracts of at least one year, not rolling three-month agreements that run for years. Justice Rika described the repeated renewals as a mirror of probation that never ends.
Exploitation disguised as temporary work
The Court found that Kenya Power benefited from her labour for more than eight years while denying her the benefits and job security that go with permanent service. It noted that she missed out on cumulative benefits like salary increments, pension contributions, and recognition of her long service. The judge called it a form of exploitation hidden under the name of temporary employment.
Conclusion
Even though the Court upheld the dismissal, it declared that Kenya Power had violated her constitutional right to fair labor practices by keeping her under short term contracts for so long. It awarded her general damages of four hundred and fifty thousand shillings.
Read the whole case file HERE
Sources
- Employment and Labor Relations Court at Nakuru Judgment in Gichuki v Kenya Power and Lighting Company Plc [2025] KEELRC 2578 (Kenya Law)
- The Constitution of Kenya, Article 41 on Fair Labor Practices
- Public Service Commission Act and Regulations, 2020
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