Business
Blow To Safaricom Employee Who Was Diagnosed With Acoustic Disorder
Ex-Safaricom employee Timothy Oluoch Deya who sued the telecommunications company for forcing him to resign out of hostile working environment has been dealt a blow by the High Court who ruled that Safaricom didn’t create the harsh environment after he failed to give evidence.
The ex-Safaricom worker had sued for Sh1.09 million in salary in lieu of notice (of termination) and one year’s pay as compensation for unfair termination.
Mr Deya resigned from Safaricom on September 28, 2016, on medical grounds, as he had contracted several complications from his initial deployment to the customer experience department.
Deya told court that his employer created a hostile environment for him in order to coerce him into forceful resignation. His claim was based on the labour principle of constructive dismissal, in which an employer uses underhand tactics to force its worker to resign to avoid terminating the contract.
Mr Deya claimed that he was constantly harassed when on sick off and that the redeployment offered was not genuine.
He joined Safaricom in 2010 as a part timer but was offered a permanent and pensionable position in 2014.
In 2015 he was diagnosed with acoustic shock disorder, a condition that has affected hundreds of Safaricom customer care agents, and carpal tunnel syndrome which Mr Deya argued was triggered by typing as part of his regular duties.
He was also diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome type 1 on his left hand.
Mr Deya said in court papers that after being diagnosed with acoustic shock disorder, the clinic sent his medical report to Safaricom’s human resource department, which refused to share the document with him.
Acoustic shock disorder (ASD) is described as an involuntary response to a sound perceived as traumatic (usually a sudden, unexpected loud sound heard near the ear) which causes a specific and consistent pattern of neurophysiological and psychological symptoms.
These include aural pain/fullness, tinnitus, hyperacusis, muffled hearing, vertigo and other unusual symptoms such as numbness or burning sensations around the ear.
The condition widely affected a section of Safaricom employees who were reportedly illegally laid off. The affected former employees took the firm to court and cases settled out of court. According to blog posts, condition came about from Safaricom procuring sub-standard headphones for call-center employees.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
Tuju Forcefully Removed From His Karen Property With Masked Officers In Unmarked Vehicles In Early Morning Raid
Centum Special Report: Is Mworia Overseeing Shareholder Value Destruction?
Court Issues Warrant of Arrest For Two Fake Gold Scammers
Sifuna Launches Linda Mwananchi Website To Raise Campaign Funds
US Offers Reward For Information On Iran’s Supreme Leader, Senior Officials
RUTO, YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SKUNK: Parliament Rubber-Stamps The Least Qualified NLC Chair In Kenya’s Constitutional History, and Six Nominees To Match
Iran Considering limited Tanker Passage Through Strait Of Hormuz If Cargo Paid In Yuan: Report
Four US Soldiers Killed After Refueling Tanker Collides With Second Aircraft In West Iraq
The Confession, The Child, The Forged Documents and The Silenced Commission: Havi Lays Bare The Full Architecture Of Corruption Behind The Tuju Property Saga
PSC Raises Retirement Age For Lecturers, Researchers To 70
Russian Man’s Secret Sex Recordings Ignite Fury as Questions Mount Over Consent and Easy Pick-Ups in Nairobi
THE FIRM IN THE DOCK: How Kaplan and Stratton Became the Most Scrutinised Law Firm in Kenya
Multi-Million Dollar Fraud: Three Kenyans Face US Extradition in Massive Cybercrime Conspiracy
Iran Demands Arrest, Prosecution Of Kenya’s Cup of Joe Director Director Over Sh2.6 Billion Tea Fraud
Ex-Inchcape Kenya CEO Sanjiv Shah Charged With Bank Fraud
Kenya Strips Dutch Climate Body of Diplomatic Immunity Amid Donor Fraud Scandal and Allegations of Executive Capture
A Farm in Kenya’s Rift Valley Ignites a National Reckoning With Israeli Investment
FBI Investigates Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Husband’s Sh3.8 Billion Businesses in Kenya, Somalia and Dubai
A UN Director Based in Nairobi Was Deep in an Intimate Friendship With Epstein — He Even Sent Her a Sex Toy
President Ruto and Uhuru Reportedly Gets In A Heated Argument In A Closed-Door Meeting With Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed
-
News2 weeks agoEx-Inchcape Kenya CEO Sanjiv Shah Charged With Bank Fraud
-
Development2 weeks agoKenya Strips Dutch Climate Body of Diplomatic Immunity Amid Donor Fraud Scandal and Allegations of Executive Capture
-
Investigations4 days agoHow Little-Known Pesa Print, Linked to State House Tycoons, Won NTSA Tender Worth Sh42 Billion in Traffic Fines
-
Business6 days agoWaweru’s Bank Pockets Sh1.16 Billion from KPC IPO While Ordinary Kenyans Fled the Sale
-
Investigations6 days agoSOLD TO THE BULLET: How the Bodyguard Handed MP Ong’ondo Were to His Killers
-
Business5 days agoThe New Master of the Nation: How a Tanzanian Billionaire With a President in His Pocket Just Bought Kenya’s Most Powerful Press
-
News3 days agoNamed: Havi Says Mutava Confessed He Was Collecting The Bribe For Lady Justice Josephine Mongare, So Why Is JSC Still Silence?
-
Investigations2 weeks agoI Swore Never To Hire The Chopper Again, Author Recalls Harrowing Experience in Helicopter That Killed MP Ng’eno Alleges Poor Maintenance By Owners