Safi news

• KMPDU moved to court challenging Lyn Mengich’s unilateral decision to remove a bone from their mouth

• Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the Public Service Commission aligned themselves with KMPDU in Court and won against the SRC’s continued unilateral aggression against hapless public officers.

• Non-practice allowances is a cushion money which is paid to Doctors and State Counsels for not practising their profession in private sector

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission [SRC] Chairperson Ms Lyn Mengich suffered a major blow after the Employment and Labour Relations Court quashed her decision to stop non-practice allowance for public servants 

In a landmark ruling that was delivered on 17th November, by Lady Justice Stellah Ruto of ELRC Court declared the SRC’s letter and document proposing to abolish non practice allowance  as unconstitutional

The judge said that SRC acted outside their mandate by purporting to abolish non practice allowance. Further,  that SRC interfered with KMPDU’s right to Collective Bargaining

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Union [KMPDU] had moved to court to bar SRC from implementing such harsh decisions on public servants whose their salaries has seen major cut from the current administration owing to the newly introduced statutory deductions 

The non-practice allowance was inteded to facilitate the attraction and retention of specific critical professional skills in public service 

Justice Stella Rutto ruled that SRC overstepped their mandate when it proposed to abolish the allowance earned by public servants such as state counsels and doctors

The allowance is a key term of service and a preserve of an employer and a product of collective bargaining process in cases where there is a duly recognised trade union 

At the time, government was worried that trained professionals would go into private practice, making it hard for low paying public sector to attract top intellectuals 

In a circular dated 25th November 2022, addressed to county executive committee members and chairpersona of the public service boards, the SRC sought written submissions on the allowance for review, setting and advice in the public service 

“In a view of the foregoing, it is my view that the proposal by SRC to abolish the non-practice allowance currently paid to certain cadres in public officers is tantamount to setting the terms and conditions of service in the public service,” said the judge 

Justice Rutto, however, said SRC can only play it’s advisory role, where a term of service such as remuneration, has been set by the employer or negotiated and agreed upon between an employer and a trade union in the process of collective bargaining 

The Petition to ELRC No. E006/2023, of KMPDU was supported by Ministry of Labour and Social Protection as well as Public Service Commission [PSC], CoG and 47 County Government Public Service Boards against Salaries and Remuneration Commission [SRC]