MARA UPDATES

A proposal to enact a law barring employers from pestering their staff with work after office hours has elicited strong emotions, with the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) accusing the Senate of seeking to micromanage private enterprises. The Employment (Amendment) Bill, 2022, fronted by Nandi Senator Samson Cherarkey, proposes to introduce a law preventing employers from interfering with employees’ personal time by limiting contact after hours. Ostensibly aimed at promoting  a healthy work-life balance for employees, the Bill seeks to amend section 27 of the Employment Act, 2007 to introduce ‘the right to disconnect’ by employees, effectively empowering workers to ignore work-related calls, messages and emails during out-of-work hours. It is also pushing for employers to put in place a policy to explain circumstances when they may contact employees during out-of-work hours and specify the nature of compensation for employees who work overtime. “Where an employer has more than t...

  A Maralal court has sent to jail a prison warden charged with aiding the escape of prisoners from Maralal GK Prison. Maralal Senior Principal Magistrate John Tamar ruled that the officer, Zacheus Tirop, pay a fine of Sh970,000 failure to which he will serve a three-year jail term. The court found Zacheus Tirop guilty of several counts, among them aiding convicts escape prison cells and forgery of judicial documents contrary to section 351 of the penal code. Mr Titop was also found guilty of soliciting a bribe of Sh9,830 from a convict who was then serving a three month sentence to forge a court fine receipt that was used to aid the escape of inmates. Tirop was also charged with aiding other prisoners escape from the prison facility on diverse dates after receiving bribes ranging from Sh10, 000 and Sh50,000. Read:   My nephew the criminal: How I spent five years in jail for robbery I didn't know of | Nation When he was first arraigned in the same court in 2018, Mr Tirop ...