NICHOLAS MBUYA, GABRIEL DOLAN, PENINAH KAMAU, FRANKLIN FAIDA & PIUS MUTHOKA (APPEALING AS THE TRUSTEE OF GOOD LIFE ORPHANAGE) V. ALICE GESARE MONINDA

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

By a letter of appointment dated 1^st May, 2009, the respondent was offered employment by the appellants as a house mother at the Good Life Orphanage “the Orphanage”, a trust foundation based in Kilifi and run by the appellants. The terms of engagement, provided inter alia; that she would earn a monthly salary of Kshs.7,000/-plus a bonus of Kshs.2,000/ per month, with the latter amount being kept in a separate account to be paid to the appellant only upon her completion of five years of service.

Things ran smoothly until the evening of 28^th September, 2013 when, upon return from her usual Sabbath service, the respondent was met by the manager of the orphanage, one Mercy Nyadzua Mbingo, who served her with a letter indefinitely suspending her from employment. The basis of the suspension was said to be allegations of assault levelled against her by some of the children in her care. She was thus required to leave the orphanage immediately.

According to the respondent, t…