This archive report was first published on 12 June 2020.
On June 12, 2020, the Employment and Labour Relations Court made a significant ruling in a case filed by the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) against several public universities.
Justice Maureen Onyango found Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Technical University of Kenya (TUK), and Kenyatta University to be in breach of the law for failing to remit union dues and agency fees to Uasu.
JKUAT was ordered to remit Sh12.9 million to Uasu and pay the cost of the case, while TUK was also ordered to pay the cost of the case and make remittances of any outstanding union dues and agency fees.
Kenyatta University was also ordered to meet the cost of the petition and pay any outstanding union dues and agency fees, after admitting to having paid the union dues intermittently.
However, The University of Nairobi agreed to remit the outstanding sum and pay the cost of the suit, while the case against Moi, Kisii, and Egerton universities was withdrawn after they settled the dues.
Uasu had moved to court in July 2019 to compel the seven universities to pay union dues and agency fees amounting to Sh123 million, arguing that universities had failed to remit union dues and agency fees despite deducting the same from their employees.
