The Employment and Labour Relations Court has ordered Kenyan business-to-business startup Twiga Foods to pay a former sales representative over KES 1 million ($7,800) after ruling that his termination in 2018 was unfair and procedurally flawed.
In a virtual judgment delivered on October 9, Justice Linnet Ndolo found that Twiga wrongfully dismissed Maxton Duke Kibira in December 2018 after accusing him of poor performance without credible proof.
The court held that the company neither provided a clear job description nor followed due process before terminating his employment.
“The respondent’s witness was unable to point out any proof of poor performance,” Justice Ndolo stated, describing the company’s deductions from Kibira’s pay as “unilateral” and in breach of labour law. She added that Twiga further violated the employee’s rights by punishing him twice for the same issue—first by docking his pay and later firing him.
Twiga had claimed Kibira consistently underperformed despite repeated warnings and that the deductions were linked to unearned bonuses.
However, the court ruled that the company failed to provide any documented evidence of poor performance or demonstrate that Kibira was offered support to improve.
We are excited to share with you
This FREE E-Book of 50 Agritech Pioneers & Their Game Changing Innovations.
Download the Ebook now
The judgment adds to a growing list of labour disputes involving Kenyan tech startups. In April, the same court ordered neobank Umba to pay KES 2.88 million ($22,300) for unfairly dismissing an executive without documented performance targets.
Around the same period, Dawa Life Sciences was faulted for pay disparities among employees in identical roles—a decision that rattled startups with opaque pay structures.
Kibira, who joined Twiga in 2015 and earned about KES 100,000 ($774) per month, told the court that he faced unrealistic sales targets, forced overtime, and frequent transfers. He also alleged that Twiga unlawfully deducted KES 426,000 ($3,298) from his salary for alleged unbanked cash, a claim the company failed to substantiate.
