The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has been given authority by the Nairobi Court of Appeal to provide advice on salaries and compensation to government trustees and other public trustee businesses.
This comes after the court ruled on Friday, February 28, that the SRC had jurisdiction over the National Social Security Fund’s (NSSF) decision that its employees are public officers and are therefore subject to the SRC’s wage review process.
“In reaching the conclusion that the employees of the NSSF are not subject to the requirements of the SRC 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 stated in part.
The third, first, and second respondents in the petition—the NSSF, the Kenya Union of Commercial Food Allied Workers, and the Attorney General—challenged the SRC’s circular in 2016, which aimed to control wage negotiations between the union and the NSSF.
The respondents contended that the SRC lacked authority to regulate the compensation and wages of trustee corporations such as the Union and NSSF.
At first, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled in favor of the union, holding that the NSSF was not covered by the SRC’s circular.
The SRC filed an appeal of the court’s decision, claiming that its constitutional authority to monitor public official compensation was being diminished.
