The Kenya Commercial Bank can now pay its managerial staff in Kenya its bonuses after the Employment and Labour Relations Court’s ruling.
The court also said the ruling applied to all outlets of KCB Group that had been affected by the court order that stopped the bonuses from being paid.
The Banking, Insurance, and Finance Union (K) (BIFU, which was representing KCB staff who are members of the union, claimed KCB’s use of quarterly performance reviews to determine yearly bonuses was discriminatory.
Therefore, the union acquired ex parte orders that prohibited KCB from paying annual bonuses to its 2,279 management staff who are not union members.
The bank’s lawyer said KCB had been using the balanced scorecards to evaluate staff performance since 2005 in order to reward staff performance.
“The issue of payment of bonuses to management staff specifically was not in dispute in the conciliation proceedings, and should not have been subject to the court’s orders issued on 21st March 2018,’’said Peter Munge of MMC Africa Law.
KCB also argued that the management staff of the bank outside Kenya were not involved in the suit and should, therefore, not be subjected to the court’s ruling.
“The court does not have jurisdiction over the banking group’s staff in Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan. The previous orders had also affected the payment of bonuses to staff working for KCB Capital Limited, KCB Foundation and KCB Insurance Agency Limited.’’ Munge added.
The court ordered that Sh240,721,905 be put aside in an escrow account awaiting the court’s final decision.
