Hi Maggie, I need your help. I worked for a Salt Manufacturing Company in Mombasa. I had been working there for 9 months. My duty was to package salt into packets. I used to be paid at the end of the day. If the job is not finished, I would be paid the following day. My employer terminated my employment last week without notice. What redress do I have in law?
As you have already stated in your statement of problem above, it is my view that you may have a recourse in a court of law. The kind of employment contract you were engaged in is known as employment for Specific Task (Piece Work or Piece Rate Arrangement).
Section 2 of the Employment Act 2007 defines Piece Work to comprise any work, pay for which is determined by the amount of work performed, irrespective of the time occupied in its performance.
This matter was illustrated by the Court of Appeal in the case of Krystalline Salt Limited v Kwekwe Mwakele & 67 Others (2017) eKLR, that in a piece work or as it is sometimes called Piece Rate Arrangement, the emphasis is on the amount of work and not the time expended in doing it.
In this case therefore it may look as if you have no redress in law since you were being paid by way of the amount of work completed and not the time you have spent in the job. It is therefore necessary to state that you may not get some of the benefits and privileges which an ordinary employee may have for example House Allowance. In the Krystalline case above the court stated that an employee under piece work arrangement, though not entitled to all or some of the benefits of the other forms of employment, is at least entitled to the minimum wage.
In Bernard Mariita Nyangara v Pakaging Industies Limited (2015) eKLR, it was held that ‘piece work is contemplated as lawful under the law. An employer can contract an employee based on the nature of the work contemplated. Such a contract is lawful and allowed to specify the terms and conditions that should apply and should not go below the minimum allowed terms and conditions of employment that contemplate a wage below the legal minimum.
In conclusion, piece rate work is not dependent on length of time spent doing a particular assignment but on the nature of the assignment itself (Wilfred K. Onyango v DHL Excel Supply Chain Kenya Ltd (2017)eKLR). Therefore, as a general rule, where a contract of service relates to piece work and work is not completed at the end of the day, the employee, at the option of the employer can either be paid for the task which has been performed at the end of that day, or be permitted to complete the task on the following day (Krystalline Supra).