SBM Bank branch
SBM Bank is currently conducting a redundancy exercise.
The bank which took up the business of the fallen Chase Bank is reportedly skewed in this exercise, and staff members are not happy.
“I’m sure you’ve heard about the redundancy which is going on at SBM bank; former chase bank. I don’t think it is done fairly,” a source wrote to nyakundireport.com.
The bone of contention is the flouting of the Labour laws.
“I understand redundancy means that the title you are holding does not exist anymore but that ain’t the case here. Some people are even being fired under titles they do not hold,” the source added.
The bank’s management is adamant to admit their mistake
“When asked what criteria they used to terminate people’s contract of employment they can’t tell”. Cheap labor and the consequences SBM is accused of firing drivers then rehiring them through an HR firm for cheap.
“Other people like the drivers who earn above 100,000 (most of them) were declared redundant but were sent for interviews to work for the bank but under another company which will be paying them 34k which mean the company is just looking for cheap labour”.
The consequences of redundancies are sometimes dire.
The bank which has been reporting less than Sh100 million profits is in dire straits and might get hit hard with lawsuits.
There’s a high success rate of lawsuits on employment termination which ought to make employers dismiss staff only as a last resort.
In the Employment and Labor Relations Court, two in three cases in which an employer was sued for unfair termination were ruled in favour of the employee.
It is a costly goodbye for many. In the business world, exposure to such legal penalties constitutes a class of risks known as compliance risk. The inability of a company to justify termination of employment leads to financial loss.
nyakundireport.com encourages staff to sue.