Emojong v Henkel Chemicals (EA) (Employment and Labour Relations Cause 1910 of 2017) [2025] KEELRC 2015 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan employment court cut a worker's award by Kshs 85,000 because a signed discharge voucher proved notice pay, but salary without written proof stayed payable.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the Applicant has demonstrated sufficient reason or error apparent on the face of the record to warrant review of the judgment of 3rd February 2025 awarding the Claimant Kshs. 170,000 for July 2017 salary and pay in lieu of notice, given the asserted payment at separation
Key legal issues
#Whether the Applicant met the threshold for review under Rule 74(1) ELRC (Procedure) Rules
The threshold was met only in respect of the notice pay, which the discharge voucher showed had been paid; it was not met for the July 2017 salary.
The court examined the discharge voucher and cheque produced by the Applicant. The voucher showed the Claimant admitted receipt of Kshs. 155,112/-, which expressly included one month's salary in lieu of notice (Kshs. 85,000) and pay for days worked in August 2017. Nothing in the documents indicated payment of July 2017 salary. Accordingly, the court found sufficient reason to review the award only as to notice pay, reducing the judgment sum by Kshs. 85,000 to Kshs. 595,000, and declined to review the July 2017 award.
Legal principles established
#- An error apparent on the face of the record must be self-evident and not require elaborate argument to establish
- A party asserting payment bears the evidentiary burden of proving it
Court orders
#- 1.Review of the judgment excluding one month's salary in lieu of notice from the total amount payable
- 2.Total judgment sum reviewed downwards by Kshs. 85,000 (notice pay)
- 3.Final judgment figure fixed at Kshs. 595,000
- 4.Rest of the judgment remains the same
- 5.Application for review in respect of July 2017 salary dismissed
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Rule 74(1) of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (Procedure) Rules, read with Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Act and Order 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules
Relief refused
#Review of the award of salary for July 2017
The discharge voucher signed by the Claimant did not evidence payment for July 2017, only notice pay and August days worked
Declaration that the Claimant is not entitled to any award under the head of salary for July 2017 and pay in lieu of notice
Only the notice pay component was found to have been paid; the July 2017 salary award stood
Costs
No costs order made in the judgment; the Applicant had sought that there be no orders for costs.
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
I however review my judgment and exclude for the total amount payable 1 months’ salary in lieu of notice.
The final judgment figure is now reviewed to be settled at kshs 595,000/-.
The rest of the judgment remain the same.
I therefore find the application to review my judgment in regard to payment of July 2017 is not merited.
Issues in the judgment
#The judgment does not identify the parties or the suit number of the underlying claim by name; the case title is inferred from a cited authority and the parties are identified only by role, which may not match the actual parties to the suit.
Conflicting role labels: the moving party is described as Respondent/Applicant and the opposing party as Claimant/Respondent; paragraph 9 also says 'The Respondent avers that did not receive any payments' although it appears in the Claimant's case.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Emojong v Henkel Chemicals (EA) (Employment and Labour Relations Cause 1910 of 2017) [2025] KEELRC 2015 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Notice of Motion dated 10th March 2025. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/2015/eng@2025-07-09
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.