Supermarket to pay woman who quit over sexual harassment

Chandarana Foodplus store in Ngara, Nairobi. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Offers for free lunch, yoghurt, late-night texts and assignments closer to the manager's office have cost a supermarket chain Sh589,200.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court has ruled that the gestures to a woman employee amounted to sexual harassment.

The staff codenamed CMK turned down the freebies from her Chandarana branch manager BD, two months after she was employed in May 2017.

She faced disciplinary action for alleged loss of a Sh1,000 note.

CMK told the court that the implication was malicious and after a disciplinary meeting, it was established that she was never involved.

She then raised concerns about sexual harassment to Chandarana's general manager and she was summoned to a disciplinary meeting, where an apology was issued.

This, she said, was an admission of liability by BD. CMK was then transferred to the ABC Place branch on August 24, 2017.

After reporting on August 31, she was met with hostility as colleagues openly discussed the issue of sexual harassment. This made her quit.

She told the court that the unconducive work environment was a violation of her rights to dignity, reasonable working conditions and fair administrative action.

She said that she was not aware of any disciplinary action taken against BD.

Chandarana said CMK picked up the Sh1,000 note together with the money she had dropped, yet the note had been dropped by the branch manager while giving out salary advances.

She was recorded on CCTV cameras picking the note.

According to the supermarket, this amounted to gross misconduct, a ground for summary dismissal.

She responded by denying that she ever picked the money and even offered to pay, to settle the matter.

But Chandarana invited her to a hearing and it was during the meeting that she raised the sexual harassment allegations.

The supermarket, instead of firing her, opted to transfer her, where she worked from August 31 to September 20, 2017, when she resigned.

It added that she made the move to extort money from them since her claim was generalised and wanting.

The supermarket argued that CMK was misleading the court by saying that it issued an apology or that it admitted liability.

According to Chandarana, CMK was aware of their sexual harassment policy but she never complained. They said her resignation was voluntary.

In her evidence, CMK said she enjoyed a good working relationship with BD but turned down his invitations for a drink.

It was when he suggested that she move to Ngara and he would pay her rent that she realised their relationship was getting sexual.

She said BD told her not to share their conversations with anyone.

She added that during her resignation, she notified the Human Resource Manager Jane Njambi Mwangi of the sexual harassment allegations.

The victim added that she expected Chandarana would keep the issue private and was surprised to learn that someone was watching her every move.

CMK said male colleagues at the ABC branch started avoiding her while others put her in emotional distress when they started asking her why she was transferred.

In her testimony, Njambi said the communication between the two was friendly and did not equate to sexual harassment.

The manager added that CMK had not reported the harassment and only brought the allegations during the disciplinary hearing.

According to Njambi, CMK was transferred because she indicated that she did not feel safe at the Diamond Plaza branch.

The HR manager said that BD later fell ill, broke down mentally and returned to India.

Njambi posed why CMK offered to pay the Sh1,000 yet she did not take it and wondered why she filed the case a year after the incident.

CMK presented text messages in court to show that she was not interested in pursuing a relationship with BD by telling him she was not looking for anyone at the moment. The victim added that her conversations with BD were one-sided.

She said on several occasions, she had to beg BD to let her sleep as he kept texting late into the night.

According to her, the supermarket failed to take measures to protect her.

Justice Nzioki wa Makau awarded CMK Sh89,200 for wrongful dismissal and Sh500,000 for harassment.