The Court of Appeal overturned an Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) decision, reaffirming the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s (SRC) authority to set salaries and benefits for public officers in all State corporations, including the National Social Security Fund.
This decision effectively overturns the ELRC’s previous ruling, which found the SRC’s directive of July 4, 2012, inapplicable to state corporations.
The Appellate court found that the ELRC had misinterpreted the Constitution and the law in its determination that NSSF employees were not subject to SRC regulations.
“In reaching the conclusion that the employees of the NSSF are not subject to the requirements of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Act and regulations, we find that the Employment and Labour Relations Court misapprehended the Constitution and the law, and in so doing, arrived at the wrong decision, as a consequence of which it is necessary to interfere with that decision,” the ruling read in part.
The controversy began in 2016, when NSSF, the Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers, and the Attorney General challenged the SRC’s guide governing salary regulations at NSSF.
The ELRC first decided in favor of the petitioners, thus limiting the SRC’s authority. However, the SRC filed an appeal, claiming that its constitutional power to oversee public servants’ salaries had been compromised.
The Court of Appeal’s ruling reinforced SRC’s jurisdiction over remuneration in State corporations, stating that salaries paid from either Parliament’s annual national budget or funds retained by State corporations fall under SRC’s regulations.
