The Employment and Labour Relations Court granted permission to 118 teachers to join an ongoing petition initially filed by 73 of their colleagues from Nakuru County, seeking payment for house allowance.
At least 200 teachers have been allowed to sue the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over Sh20 million in unpaid house allowance arrears.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court granted permission to 118 teachers to join an ongoing petition initially filed by 73 of their colleagues from Nakuru County.
The teachers are seeking payment of arrears for house allowances they claim were underpaid between July and October 2019.
In a ruling delivered on April 28, Justice James Rika allowed the amendment of the petition to include the additional teachers.
He noted that the main dispute is still pending before the court, and “there is nothing on record to suggest that the doctrines of finality and res judicata, invoked by the respondent, are applicable to the application”.
The initial case was filed on June 29, 2022, by John Tallam and 72 other teachers who argued that they were employed on permanent and pensionable terms and thus entitled to full house allowances.
They are seeking a court declaration that TSC’s decision to underpay them was illegal, null and void and want Sh20,496,000 paid in arrears.
On May 16, 2024, the teachers filed an application to amend their petition and add the 118 teacher arguing they were equally affected by the underpayments and shared the same grievances.
TSC, through its Director of Human Resource Management Kenneth Marangu, opposed the application.
He argued that a similar dispute involving the 118 teachers had been resolved in a different court, which advised the matter be addressed administratively. He further stated that calculating house allowance is an ongoing administrative function and not something the court should micromanage.
However, Justice Rika noted that TSC failed to present any judgment or ruling from the other court supporting its claims.
As a result, he allowed the teachers to amend their application to include the 118 additional claimants within 14 days and to serve all parties ahead of the hearing.
