A former Carrefour supermarket store manager has sued the retailer’s owners, accusing them of wrongful dismissal and illegally accessing his data.
Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets Limited, headquartered in Dubai, owns the local Carrefour franchise.
Mr Peter Nyingi Waweru was fired in March of this year after being accused of receiving Sh50,000 from one of the suppliers.
The retail chain allegedly investigated allegations of staff unfairly awarding tenders to suppliers in an attempt to defraud owners.
Mr Waweru, who managed the Westgate branch of the supermarket, claims he was never informed of the existence of criminal investigations to justify the violation of his privacy rights and the processing of his personal data.
The manager stated that he started as a section manager in January 2016, earning Sh152,170 per month, and was later promoted to store manager. On January 18, this year, he was suspended for 14 days to allow for an investigation into an alleged breach of the company’s ethics.
Mr Waweru claims he was summoned by the country HR manager on January 22 and accused of violating the company’s policies. He was then served with a show cause letter accusing him of receiving Sh50,000 from one of the supermarket’s suppliers on October 9, 2021.
The former manager claims, through his lawyer Donald Kipkorir, that he was not given enough time to prepare for his response and that he was never provided with the evidence, investigation report, and a signed copy of the code of ethics, among other documents, so that he could prepare for his defense.
Mr Waweru claims that on March 5, this year, the company held a meeting at which he was given new evidence allegedly obtained by Parklands police.
He claims the evidence was presented in an affidavit from an investigator alleging unfair tender awarding to suppliers.
On March 10, Mr Waweru was summarily dismissed.
Mr Kipkorir accuses the former employer of violating his client’s right to privacy, which entitles him to be notified before any information about his personal affairs is sought.
“That despite my numerous requests, the respondent has failed to provide me with a criminal case number, OB number or any other particulars indicating the existence of a criminal investigation or proceedings to justify the violation of my privacy by processing my personal data,” he said in a sworn statement.
