Nairobi Court Orders Restaurant to Pay Sh1.15m After Manager Calls Employee a ‘Prostitute’
A Kenyan employer has been ordered to pay Sh1.15 million in compensation after a court found that a female employee was subjected to demeaning insults, threats, and conduct amounting to sexual harassment by her manager.
In a ruling delivered by Employment and Labour Relations Court Judge Hellen Wasilwa, Grand Café Indian Cuisine was held liable for the mistreatment of employee Faith Viloko, who the court found had been “treated in an inhumane and undignified manner” by her supervisor, Ghag Sanjay Baban.
Justice Wasilwa said the evidence presented before the court — including an audio recording of an exchange between Viloko and the manager — demonstrated that the employee had been verbally abused, called degrading names, and threatened in a manner that carried “clear sexual harassment undertones.”
“The insults and threats demeaned the petitioner,” Justice Wasilwa stated. “It is also true that the words used against the petitioner were laced with connotations of sexual harassment, fitting the legal definition whereby the second respondent used language of a sexual nature accompanied by threats of physical conduct.”
She referenced the landmark Indian case Vishaka & Others vs State of Rajasthan & Others, which has been widely used in shaping sexual harassment jurisprudence in Commonwealth countries.
Incident Stemmed from Misunderstanding at Workplace
According to testimony before the court, Viloko was employed by Grand Café in 2022 as a waiter and later trained as a barista, eventually taking on additional responsibilities such as cashiering. She told the court she earned Sh15,000 per month.
The dispute arose on February 5 this year when the manager allegedly suspected Viloko of discussing him with other staff. She stated that she was summoned to his office, where he grabbed her collar and attempted to strike her, though she managed to avoid the blow.
Shortly afterwards, she was called back to the office. Anticipating further aggression, she discreetly placed her mobile phone in her apron pocket and began recording the meeting.
The court heard that the recording captured the manager issuing repeated verbal threats and directing sexually explicit and demeaning remarks toward her, including calling her a prostitute and using insults in Hindi, English, and Kiswahili.
Court Finds Harassment ‘Crude, Degrading and Intimidating’
Viloko argued that the manager’s conduct — including the attempted physical aggression, verbal abuse, and the sexualised threats — amounted to gross sexual harassment intended to intimidate and humiliate her.
Justice Wasilwa agreed, noting that the language used was “crude, degrading, and characteristic of behaviour meant to exert power and instil fear.”
The judge concluded that the actions clearly violated the complainant’s rights to dignity and a safe working environment, and ordered Grand Café Indian Cuisine to compensate her with Sh1.15 million.
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Nairobi Court Orders Restaurant to Pay Sh1.15m After Manager Calls Employee a ‘Prostitute’