Discipline: FKE develops new code of conduct

By Luke Anami

The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) has designed a disciplinary management course to guide members.

The course will be administered through its Industrial Labour Relations department.

"A new disciplinary management course has specifically been designed to help FKE members to handle discipline matters in accordance with the new labour laws," the FKE Chief Executive Officer, Jacqueline Mugo, said.

Impartial determination

According to the Employment Act 2007, employers are expected to develop a code of conduct for their organisations, which will spell out the procedures in disciplinary cases that may lead to either termination or dismissal of an employee.

Further, the range of penalties that can be imposed should be clearly defined, and an internal appeal mechanism should be available to the employee.

An employee involved in a disciplinary matter has the right to a fair and impartial determination of the issues concerned.

Moreover, procedures should be reviewed periodically, so that they are consistent with changed circumstances in the workplace, developments in employment legislation and good practice generally.

Disciplinary procedures should set out clearly the different levels in the enterprise or organisation at which the various stages of the procedures will be applied.

Employee record

Management is also required to set up procedures for warnings to be removed from an employee’s record after a specified period and the employee advised accordingly. It also requires that all members of management be familiar with such procedures.