"Windsor to pay hostess Sh2.6m for sacking over pregnancy"

Windsor Hotel and Country Club was last month ordered to pay a former employee Sh2.5 million for sacking her over a pregnancy three years ago. In a ruling...last week, the Employment and Labour Relations Court held that Ms Tracy Wangechi Mugambi was discriminated against when she was sacked just after resuming duty from maternity leave. “It therefore follows that the respondent (Windsor) had no valid reason to terminate the services of the petitioner,” Justice Hellen Wasilwa ruled. The court ordered the hotel to pay her Sh2 million for discrimination on account of pregnancy, three months’ salary in lieu of notice, gratuity for working for six years and 12 months’ salary for unlawful termination. She was also given shoe entitlement of Sh18,000 among other compensation all amounting to Sh2,575,527.

Evidence presented in court showed that Ms Mugambi became expectant in 2014 but carried on with her duties without a complaint. On February 4, 2015, however, she was allegedly called by the Hotel’s Banqueting Manager, who inquired when she was due for delivery. She told the manager she was due to deliver in July 2015. The manager told her that the director had said she should proceed on leave because “she looked tired” and report back to work after delivery. She proceeded on paid leave as directed although she was not issued with leave forms to fill. Ms Mugambi delivered in July 2015, and took annual leave until December. She was sacked after resuming duty on January 18, 2016. The hotel management defended the sacking saying it was not on account of her pregnancy, arguing she was terminated six months after the delivery and there was no nexus between her termination and the pregnancy.