Sacked guard wins Sh 1,000 after a five-year court battle

An employee fired for being drunk fought for five years only to win Sh1,000 compensation.

Each day that Daniel Mwanzau’s file was before the Labour Court in Nairobi where he sought Sh714,000, he literally earned Sh50 cents.

Mwanzau was employed by Brink Security Services as a guard sometime in 2001 but was shown the door on July 14, 2015 for being drunk at work.

Following his sacking, he sued his employer seeking Sh114,000 as damages for wrongful dismissal. He also asked the court to award him Sh494,000 as compensation for unpaid overtime for the 13 years he worked for the security firm.

The man also sought for an unpaid salary which totaled to Sh14,500 and additional Sh2,500 uniforms refund.

In his case, Mwanzau claimed he was sacked on false allegations that he reported working while drunk. He denied the alleged misconduct and contended that no test was carried out to prove he was drunk.

He also claimed he was not served with any prior notice or taken through any disciplinary hearing before the dismissal.